Jakarta (Kemenag) --- The Head of Badan Penyelenggara Jaminan Produk Halal (BPJPH) or the Halal Product Assurance Organizing Body of the Ministry of Religious Affairs, M Aqil Irham, revealed that as of October 24 2023, there were already 2.9 million halal certified products in Indonesia. This result surpasses BPJPH's target of reaching one million halal certified products by 2023.

Aqil conveyed this when reporting on the achievements of the acceleration program of halal certification in the presence of Vice President Ma'ruf Amin at the 10th Sharia Economic Festival (ISEF) in 2023 at the JCC, Jakarta.

"The halal certification acceleration program has shown significant results, as shown on the Sihalal dashboard," said Aqil Irham while showing the Sihalal digital dashboard on the BPJPH island stand, in JCC Jakarta, Thursday (26/10/2023).

"The growth graph in the number of halal certificate issuances has increased significantly, especially in the last two years. Today, 2.9 million products have beenhalal certified," added Aqil in front of Vice President Ma'ruf Amin who was accompanied by Bank Indonesia Governor Perry Warjiyo.

This achievement, continued Aqil, cannot be separated from a number of strategic efforts that BPJPH continues to carry out to encourage the accelerated rate of halal certification. He said, these various efforts were simultaneously carried out in order to realize the transformation of halal certification services to be easy, cheap, fast, professional and accountable.

These various strategic efforts, he continued, started from accelerating regulations, digitalizing the Sihalal service system, determining affordable service tarrifs, and facilitating free halal certification for MSEs. BPJPH is also strengthening service infrastructure by strengthening and increasing the number of Halal Inspection Agency (LPH) and Halal Product Process Assistance Institutions (LP3H) as well as their human resources.

Most recently, BPJPH also utilizes Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Blockchain technology to support the digitalization of services.

"In terms of strengthening service infrastructure, today there are 66 LPHs that have been formed, supported by 776 Halal Auditors. There are also 221 LP3Hs with 71,133 PPH Assistants spread throughout Indonesia. We want to make halal certification services closer to the community," explained Aqil.

"To support the halal industry ecosystem, currently there are 4,146 Halal Internal Auditors. And we are still working to strengthen human resources in the halal sector by continuing to encourage training for Halal Auditors, PPH Assistants, Halal Internal Auditors, Halal Slaughterers, including through the existing 116JPH Training Institutes," Aqil continued.

The Vice President Ma'ruf Amin's visit to Island BPJPH was carried out after the Vice President officially opened ISEF 2023. In his speech, Vice President Ma'ruf Amin reminded all to realize sharia economic contributions in strengthening the national economy in a more concrete way.

"Concrete the growth and contribution of the sharia economy in the form of measurable sharia GDP and become part of the National GDP calculation," said Vice President Ma'ruf Amin.

Vice President Ma'ruf Amin, who also serves as Daily Chairman of Komite Nasional Ekonomi dan Keuangan Syariah (KNEKS) or the National Sharia Economic and Financial Committee, gave three directions to strengthen the development of sharia economics and finance (Eksyar) in Indonesia. First, increasing and expanding the use of digitalization and digital innovation as the main driver for accelerating sharia economic development which will increase the efficiency and productivity of the halal industry.

Second, continue to increase sharia economic and financial literacy and inclusion, reaching at least 50%. This will correlate with the expansion of the sharia economic and financial market share in Indonesia. Third, maintain and oversee the consistency and sustainability of the Eksyar program into the future. In this case, it is necessary to strengthen synergy and coordination between all stakeholders. []