Jakarta, Oct. 10 -- Indonesia's Agriculture Minister Andi Amran Sulaiman said village cooperatives could shorten the food supply chain and improve both farmer welfare and consumer purchasing power.

"It is important for the agriculture sector to cut and shorten the supply chain, which used to have eight stages but now will be reduced to three," he said in Jakarta on Friday.

Amran explained that lengthy supply chains cause price instability in agricultural products. The more intermediaries involved, the higher the selling price, which eventually burdens consumers.

Under the government's Red-and-White Village Cooperatives program, the supply chain will be simplified to three stages: farmers, cooperatives, and consumers.

"This means farme...