Indonesia’s cattle industry is highly fragmented. Roughly 80 per cent is dominated by smallholder farmers, concentrated mostly on the island of Java. They often raise cattle for their savings rather than for commercial purposes, significantly impeding the potential of the domestic meat supply.
Most cattle breeders are also low-skilled farmers with low-input, low-output production systems. They face fundamental challenges in expanding their cattle businesses, such as limited access to finance and capital and the lack of collateral.
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As a result, domestic production can only satisfy about 40 per cent of the Indonesian demand for beef, leading to a dependency on importing beef, especially from Australia.
A local company, Moosa Genetics, aims to change this scenario by improving cattle breeding and beef production, thereby increasing meat yield and quality and reducing costs.
Founded in 2016 by Ivan Rizal Sini, Arief Boediono, Deddy F. Kurniawan, and Sigit Prastowo, Moosa Genetics is an animal genomics and biotechnology company.
Genetic selection through DNA variant analysis
“We are a biotech-enabled cattle breeding farm with a fully stacked ecosystem integrated into its cattle breeding programme. We target to improve the cattle/beef industry through embryo transfer technology and a gene selection technique called CRISPR to improve the value creation process by reducing cost and improving meat yield and quality,” says Rizal Sini.
The startup uses normal artificial insemination and also in-vivo embryo production, followed by an embryo transfer programme. These technologies are accompanied by genetic selection through DNA variant analysis, part of a molecular breeding programme.
According to him, DNA selection ensures that males’ high genetic potential meets that of females, who have the same genetic potential to produce offspring with high meat yield and quality potential. This also applies to dairy cattle and other farm animals.
“At this point, we can say that reproductive technologies are the vehicle, but the driver is the genetic potential. That is what we call the molecular breeding strategies in animals,” explains Rizal Sini.
In his opinion, the most significant challenge smallholder cattle farmers face is improving their cattle’s efficiency and productivity. Moosa Genetics aims to ensure that the genetics of cattle reared by farmers have genetic potential that meets the rearing system so that they can achieve efficiency in their business.
“The DNA test is the answer in this regard because it can tell which calves are suitable for the production system that the farmers had in earlier times. By matching the genetic potential and the environment (feed, climate, etc.), then the production system will be efficient in resulting the income in terms of growth,” he says.
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Other than this, Moosa Genetics supports, collaborates, and implements various strategies to improve smallholder farmers’ productivity, sustainability, and economic viability.
It provides training and capacity-building programmes on modern farming techniques, animal husbandry practices, and business management skills. This helps them improve productivity, optimise resources, and enhance the quality of their cattle.
In addition, the company facilitates access to essential resources, such as high-quality breeds, veterinary services, feed, and technology. Partnerships with government agencies, NGOs, and private sector stakeholders can ensure smallholders have access to necessary inputs.
Moreover, the company invests in infrastructure development, such as improved transportation networks, market facilities, and cold storage facilities. This helps farmers to transport their cattle to markets efficiently and ensures proper storage and handling of products.
“Besides, we facilitate market linkages and provide market information to farmers to ensure they receive fair product prices. This can involve establishing farmer cooperatives or working with existing market channels to connect farmers directly with buyers.
Furthermore, Moosa provides financial support through microloans, grants, or subsidies to help smallholder farmers invest in their farms, purchase inputs, and manage risks associated with cattle farming.
The biotech firm also promotes sustainable farming practices, including pasture management, waste management, and conservation efforts, to mitigate environmental impacts and ensure the industry’s long-term viability.
“By addressing these key areas, we aim to empower smallholder farmers in Indonesia’s cattle industry, enhance their livelihoods, and contribute to the sector’s overall development,” Rizal Sini emphasises.
Moosa Genetics primarily earns revenues from DNA tests, farms, gelato products, ready-to-eat meat (rendang), and live animal trading.
In October last year, Moosa Genetics received funding from lead investor East Ventures and unnamed angel investors.
To elevate the local cattle breed
Moosa Genetics’s key mission is to elevate the local cattle breed, known as Sapi Merah Putih, to superior standards, ultimately enhancing economic opportunities and meat quality.
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“Sapi Merah Putih is a symbol of excellence in the Indonesian cattle and beef sector,” he says. “It has to be further researched because one simple matrix of genetics improvement towards a specific phenotype could not be recognised as the ideal version of local cattle in Indonesia. We could not assume that the widely accepted features such as resilience towards a specific disease or better meat marbling would be ideal or able to give economic value as we have to prove that empirically. Collaboration between us and the researcher should be imminent before we can calculate the magnitude of the improvement over the current status.”
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Image Credit: Moosa Genetics.
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