The Minister of Agriculture Syahrul Yasin Limpo (Mentan SYL) is targeting an increase in the area of rice planting in the Central Sulawesi Province area. According to SYL, this addition is important considering that Central Sulawesi is a fertile region and is able to produce grain in a surplus and is one of the national food buffers.
"I hope that the main harvest doesn't stop here. This means that in order to develop agriculture to be even more productive, there must be an increase in the planting area. Let's say the current 80,000 ha can be increased to 100,000 ha," said SYL while observing the main harvest in Sidera Village. , Sigi Kota District, Sigi Regency, Sunday, 19 February 2023.
According to SYL, the agricultural potential in Central Sulawesi must receive support from all parties. Including from the central government in providing assistance, access to financing and mechanization technology interventions. Moreover, the average productivity there reaches 6 tons per hectare.
"This commitment is an important part that the enthusiasm and willingness of the local government to develop its food is extraordinary. And we must support this. I hope that the banking sector will also enter massively to facilitate KUR services," he said.
Nationally, said SYL, the availability of rice is currently in a safe condition. Farmers' harvests in a number of areas have strengthened Indonesia's rice supply and reserves in anticipation of the upcoming fasting month and Eid. Because of that, he hopes that collaboration and synergy with Bulog can be strengthened to carry out absorption.
"Of course agriculture cannot be done alone, anyone will need cross-ministerial collaboration with the BUMN minister, all Bulog parties and others," he said.
Deputy Governor of Central Sulawesi, Ma'mun Amir reported that his area is currently included as the 9th province with the highest rice productivity nationally. With this condition, he believes the agricultural sector is an economic buffer for the surrounding community.
"In terms of NTP (farmer exchange rates) in our area, it has also increased over the past 3 years. Then the realization of KUR has gone well. What is certain is that agriculture is able to reduce unemployment. One of them is through MSMEs in agriculture," he said.
Apart from rice, Amir admitted that his party is currently developing corn, soybeans and coffee. All of these commodities are superior commodities that can support the community's economy.
"Besides rice and corn, we also launched soybeans and the plantation sector for coconut, clove, robusta coffee, arabica coffee and cocoa," he said.
In the same place, the Director General of Food Crops of the Ministry of Agriculture, Kelvin said that the government is currently continuing to accelerate production to face various global challenges. Among them is implementing an early warning system for early anticipation, adaptation and mitigation which begins through mapping of areas subject to the impacts of climate change and plant pests.
Previously, President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) ensured that Indonesia's current rice supply continued to increase. The additions came from various market operations and farmer's harvests in the last few months. According to the President, this condition has caused the prices of other food needs, such as onions and eggs, to gradually drop.
"Maybe nationally later in February there will be one million, then in March there will be 1.9 million. Think about it so if the production is from farmers, from the harvest it means whether the stock is abundant, if the stock is abundant and the demand is constant it means automatically prices will go down," Jokowi said at Surabaya's Wonokromo Market.
The President said the supply of rice produced has now reached traders both in the market and retail traders. In fact, from the results of the inspection, the price of rice in East Java fell to IDR 44,000 per 5 kilograms or IDR 9,000 per one kilogram.
Source:
https://www.pertanian.go.id/home/?show=news&act=view&id=5268
