Puan Said, The Welfare Of Sugarcane Farmers Must Be Improved For The Sake Of Realizing Sugar Self-sufficiency

JAKARTA - The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Puan Maharani, pays more attention to sugarcane farmers who continue to be productive even though they often experience losses. According to him, the welfare of sugarcane farmers must be guaranteed so that the productivity of the sugar production material will also increase.

"The DPR encourages the realization of increasing the welfare of sugarcane farmers so that Indonesia can more quickly achieve sugar self-sufficiency," said Puan, Wednesday, June 8.

For information, the national sugar demand currently reaches 6 million tons. However, the national sugar production has only reached 2.1 million tons. To increase the sugar production capacity, it must be started with the welfare of sugarcane farmers.

"The high demand for sugar in the country is expected to boost the productivity of sugarcane farmers as well as their welfare. Not only does the quantity and quality of sugarcane produced by farmers increase, but the welfare of sugarcane farmers must also increase," said the first woman who served as Chair of the Indonesian House of Representatives in her statement.

Puan hopes that the Government's policies are more in favor of sugarcane farmers as the main actors in sugar self-sufficiency. He also emphasized the Government to optimize the farmer's capacity building program to increase sugarcane productivity and yield.

"The DPR will always provide support through the functions of legislation, oversight and budgeting in accordance with the constitutional duties of the council," said Puan.

Furthermore, this Legislator from the Central Java Region V considers that there must be real steps to boost sugarcane productivity. One of the efforts that can be done, said Puan, is with additional support for sugar cane producing areas such as Central Java, East Java, Lampung, South Sumatra, South Sulawesi and Gorontalo.

"Government support is urgently needed by sugarcane farmers, such as the procurement of cheap fertilizers and easy access to the procurement of seeds and superior seeds," he said.

In addition, Puan encourages the strategy to increase sugarcane productivity to be carried out optimally. Starting from the stabilization of areas, rehabilitation of plants, provision of facilities and infrastructure, increasing land productivity through the application of technical standards of cultivation and management of slash-and-load and transport (TMA), anticipation of climate change, and price fixing.

“Increased productivity and production must also be encouraged through investment in the construction of new sugar factories. Through good partnerships between farmers and sugar factories, we hope that dependence on imported sugar can be reduced," said Puan.

The former Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Culture also reminded the Government to carry out strict supervision regarding the cost of production (HPP) and the highest retail price (HET) of farmed sugar. Because on various occasions when meeting with farmers, Puan often received complaints regarding this matter.

“The government must also pay attention to the problems faced by sugarcane farmers, including operational problems that cause production costs to increase. Many farmers lose money because their production cannot cover production costs," he said.

On the other hand, Puan requested that the food import policy consider the welfare of sugarcane farmers who have committed to continuously increase sugarcane productivity. Moreover, sugar importing countries, such as India, have begun to reduce sugar exports which can also cause inflation.

“In the midst of the challenges of the global crisis, the DPR hopes that the Government will continue to side with sugar cane farmers so that the basic needs for sugar can be met from within the country. Indonesia must be able to have food independence,” said Puan.

The grandson of the Proclaimer of the Republic of Indonesia, Bung Karno, reminded that Indonesia is rich in natural products. However, according to Puan, there is still a lot of homework (PR) that must be jointly addressed so that the utilization of natural products can meet the people's needs.

"Let's fight together to realize food sovereignty in the midst of the increasingly real threat of a global food crisis," he said.

"The DPR always struggles with the people by continuing to seek the best policies so that the welfare of the people, including farmers in Indonesia, can be evenly distributed," concluded Puan.