The Governor of North Sumatra (Sumut) Edy Rahmayadi encouraged the development of the agricultural sector in the long term in the North Sumatra region massively, especially palm oil producers. It aims to increase the production of derivatives or downstream. This is because the agricultural sector is one of the strategic sectors that can spur economic growth quickly. "The production and distribution of goods or natural resource products (SDA), especially agriculture, must continue to be developed, especially for palm oil derivative products in North Sumatra, which have reached 30 products. This can support the economy in the regions and is in line with my vision, which is to prosper the people," said Edy in a press statement received by Kompas.com, Monday (8/8/2022). This was conveyed by Edy when he was the main speaker at the 3rd Sumatranomic activity organized by Bank Indonesia (BI) at the Adhimulia Hotel, Medan City, North Sumatra, Monday. Separately, Aceh Governor Nova Iriansyah also said that the agricultural sector will remain a priority program in leading Aceh in the future. Moreover, in the fourth quarter of 2021, economic growth in Aceh reached 7.4 percent, of which 80 percent came from the agricultural sector. "The agricultural sector will be the main focus and intensification in agriculture will be included in the concept of integrated agriculture," nova explained.
According to Nova, Aceh is experiencing a trade deficit with North Sumatra of 80 percent which comes from agricultural and livestock commodities and this increase is a trigger for future agricultural growth. "In accordance with the direction of the Minister of Agriculture (Mentan) Syahrul Yasin Limpo (SYL), every region needs to improve rice farming within a year. Seeing this, it is necessary to pay attention to some conditions that we have to improve," he said. Furthermore, he said, the Aceh Provincial Government (Pemprov) will be an investor to invest on a micro scale and invite several business groups to build a rice milling plant located in Blang Bintang, Aceh Besar. "The thing that will build a rice milling plant in Aceh comes from some investors, not the government. In this case, the government will only provide stimulus. Therefore, I hope that some investors can invest in building this factory," he said.
