Ministry Of Agriculture Speeds Up Planting Season To Suppress Imports Of El Nino Impact

Minister of Agriculture Amran Sulaiman (Photo: dock. Antara)

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Agriculture (Kementan) will focus on increasing national strategic commodity production in the next year. Meanwhile, by accelerating the acceleration of planting, especially on swamplands to suppress imports of the impact of the El Nino phenomenon.

Minister of Agriculture (Mentan) Andi Amran Sulaiman said that the acceleration program was a definite solution in suppressing import policies carried out due to the impact of El Nino and became a strong foundation for realizing self-sufficiency.

"This planting acceleration policy is very important for us to do to suppress imports caused by the impact of El Nino. Today we are laying the foundation so that in the future we can self-sufficiency," Amran said quoting Antara.

As a follow-up, Amran immediately went to the field by visiting the central area in the first 10 days of work. This is considered to give a positive signal for the production of the planting period (MT) 1 because farmers are increasingly enthusiastic about producing.

It is known that Amran has visited Central Sulawesi Province, South Sumatra, to South Kalimantan to ensure rice fields, farmers and extension workers are ready to face the next October-March planting period.

"Thank God, for the past 10 days I have stepped on gas checking land, farmers and extension workers. Their readiness is very important for the national food strategy. We hope that in 2024 there will be no more food imports, especially rice and I am optimistic," he said.

In addition, Amran ensured that cooperation and collaboration with various parties were continuously carried out. Among them are the Indonesian National Army (TNI) to carry out the 2023 National Food Security Movement for Advanced Indonesia.

According to Amran, collaboration with the TNI is important because food is the most strategic aspect for a country.

"This joint movement has an extraordinary impact on all of Indonesia because food security is synonymous with the country's resilience, if we are able to survive the economic crisis, we can overcome it, we will overcome the health crisis, we will overcome COVID-19, but if the food crisis can have an impact on others, so we must really protect it together," said Amran.

Not only with the TNI, Amran also invited the heads of the Agriculture Service throughout Indonesia to oversee the production of rice this year.

The collaboration between the central and regional governments, according to Amran, is a must to face the various challenges that exist.

"The world's condition is currently facing a food crisis. There are even countries that are starving and some countries have stopped exports due to weather changes. So like it or not, we have to go to self-sufficiency and have to stand on our own feet. Why? Because Indonesia can optimize this potential," said Amran.

Most recently, Amran is committed to helping countries suppress the development of terrorism understanding in Indonesia. One of them is by fostering and training terrorism convicts (Napiters) to carry out economic activities through the agricultural sector.

For this reason, Amran asked the ranks of the Ministry of Agriculture to immediately coordinate with all existing ministries and local governments throughout Indonesia.

"We will prepare a swampland intensification program in South Sumatra and South Kalimantan. We will train them to strengthen production and strengthen the economy for the inmates themselves," he explained.