Logo Silaja, an information system by the ITS research team that can help supply chain management of corn commodities in East Java Province

Surabaya, ITS News –

To support the sustainability of the food supply chain in Indonesia, Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember (ITS)created a model and information system for the sustainability of the corn supply chain in East Java. Together with the ITS Information Systems Department, the system program called Silaja is expected to be able to help the East Java Provincial Agriculture Office to make it happen.

ITS Applied Research Team Leader Prof. Erma Suryani ST MT PhD explained that corn is a strategic commodity in Indonesia’s agricultural sector. This predicate is none other than because of the diversity of benefits of corn commodities in the feed, food and raw material industry sectors. “This diversity of benefits proves the important role of corn commodities in the development of the agricultural sector and the national economy,” she said.

Erma said that currently the corn industry is experiencing several problems. Among them are low productivity, scarcity of fertilizer, and low selling price of maize by farmers. This is further exacerbated by inadequate cultivation technology.

The ITS Information Systems Department lecturer believes that this condition requires a shift in supply chain management to an information technology-based system. This shift can improve the performance of the corn cultivation economic sector, develop environmentally friendly agricultural cultivation, and improve social aspects in the corn commodity industry. “This idea was then poured into an information system called Silaja,” said Erma.

ITS Applied Research Team Leader Prof. Erma Suryani ST MT PhD when explaining the Silaja information system

Erma continued that the Silaja information system can be accessed through the official website silaja.id. This information system is intended to help improve the supply chain management of maize commodities in East Java Province in a sustainable manner. The meaning of sustainable in this context is to include economic, social, and environmental dimensions as considerations.

The professor of Model Driven Decision Support System also explained that Silaja is equipped with various features to support the corn commodity industry. One of them is the cultivation assistance feature. This feature allows users to find out the ideal fertilizer dose, estimated profits, potential risks, and index of land potential.

In addition to the cultivation assistance feature, there are also other features that can facilitate users in improving corn quality management. These features are supported by modeling methods using valid data. In the future, Erma hopes that Silaja can be applied to increase the value of maize supply chain performance in East Java Province.

Features supporting the corn commodity industry in the Silaja application, created by the ITS research team

Responding to the results of this research, Denny Kurniawan SP MM, Head of the Food Crops Division of the East Java Province Agriculture and Food Security Office, thanked ITS for its efforts in supporting the sustainability of corn supply chain management. “This is one method that can help in managing the supply chain of this type of commodity (corn, ed) in East Java Province,” he said convincingly. (ITS Public Relations)

Reporter: Ahmad Farhan Alghifari

Editor: Gandhi Kesuma