INDEF Economist Calls Quarter III Economy A Signal For Economists To Build Agriculture

JAKARTA - Executive Director of INDEF Ahmad Tauhid assessed that the economic growth rate in the third quarter of 2023, which grew 4.94 percent, is a signal for economists and academics to build the Indonesian agricultural sector.

This is a joint effort to strengthen the national economy.

"This is our signal and challenge that various breakthroughs are needed so that our economy will improve not only from a fiscal point of view but also from a monetary perspective, so that the quality of the economy and the welfare of farmers will improve," Tauhid said as quoted by ANTARA, Thursday, November 9.

Tauhid said that the domestic situation needs to be watched out for together, considering that Indonesia has just passed El Nino's dry season for more than six months.

For him, this extreme weather has affected people's lives, especially on food security issues.

"Departing from this requires strong cooperation from all stakeholders, including the community, government, business world, media and even academics to normalize the economy. Therefore, real actions are needed in the repair process by looking at the challenges and opportunities that occur," he said.

In line with this, the Minister of Agriculture (Mentan) Andi Amran Sulaiman invited academics to be directly involved in the acceleration program for the acceleration of rice and corn production in swamplands spread throughout Indonesia.

According to him, currently there are more than 10 million hectares of swampland that have the potential to increase the strength of national production raids. Of all these lands, some of them have generated productivity of 5 tons per hectare.

"In the future, we will increase it to 7 tons per hectare. So we increase the IP 1 to 2 or to 3. Everything needs collaboration and hard work to maximize existing swampland. Therefore, I invite academics, economic experts and all parties to be involved in this acceleration," said Tauhid.

Previously, the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) reported that the economic contribution of the agricultural sector in the third quarter of 2023 experienced positive growth of 13.57 percent.

With such a large number, agriculture is in second place after the processing industry grew 18.75 percent.

The positive trend managed to contribute 65.32 percent to the growth of gross domestic product (GDP) in the third quarter of 2023.