Minister Of Industry Agus Gumiwang: Don't Let Malaysia And The Philippines Be More Advanced In Utilizing Sago

JAKARTA - The government has recorded that Indonesia has the potential for sago land to reach 5.5 million hectares. But unfortunately, the utilization has only reached 5 percent.

The Ministry of Industry asked that this potential be maximized, because if not, Indonesia could lose competitiveness with neighboring countries. Minister of Industry Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita asked industry players to maximize the use of sago land in Indonesia, given that sago is not the only commodity that can be found in Indonesia.

He said, sago plants can also be found in other countries such as Papua New Guinea, Malaysia and the Philippines. These three countries also use this plant as a substitute for rice.

"This is intriguing, because we have to be careful not to let the existing sago land in Indonesia reach millions of hectares, but later the development of sago and the downstream / downstream sago industry, don't let these countries be more advanced than Indonesia," he said , in the 'Nusantara Sago Week 2020' event, Tuesday, October 20.

Agus said, if in the future the neighboring countries develop sago faster, the only ones to blame are for not seeing opportunities quickly. Therefore, he invited all parties to maximize the sago land.

"Don't let us see him first. Only we can be blamed if the countries that actually have sago can develop faster than the interests of sago or the sago industry both upstream and downstream," he said.

Secretary General of the Ministry of Agriculture, Momon Rusmono, said that sago is a source of carbohydrates that can be juxtaposed with rice and corn. According to him, sago has great potential but is still underdeveloped.

Momon said the area of land that could potentially be planted with sago is around 5.5 million hectares. However, of this total only 314,000 hectares of land were used or only about 5 percent.

"That, too, with profitability that is not too high, only 3.57 tonnes per hectare. Actually this could be increased by more than 10 tonnes, but it is still under research," he said.

Of the planted area of 314,000 hectares, 96 percent or 302,000 hectares are smallholder plantations. The remaining 4 percent is private sector.

On the other hand, said Momon, from the existing land, only 41.44 percent of plants produced yields, while the majority or 54.82 percent were immature plants.

To deal with this problem, Momon said, several policies of the Ministry of Agriculture encourage the expansion of the sago plantation area so that it can be as optimal as possible, even reaching 5.5 million hectares.

"Then by increasing productivity, namely how to provide superior seeds, good agriculture practices, with correct fertilization so that profitability can increase," he said.

In addition, said Momon, the Ministry of Agriculture will provide standards, guidelines, and criteria in order to increase productivity. As well as improving quality through facilitation of sago processing facilities and infrastructure.

However, he said, technical guidance was needed. But what is currently more important is the diversification of food from sago. Not only for papeda, but also for other products.