First Work That Must Be Done By Minister Of Agriculture Amran According To Observers: Solve Fertilizer Problems

JAKARTA - Executive Director of the Center of Economic and Law Studies (CELIOS) Bhima Yudhistira said that the newly inaugurated Minister of Agriculture Andi Amran Sulaiman must immediately resolve the fertilizer problem ahead of the rice harvest season.

"The fertilizer problem must be resolved immediately because in February-June 2024 there will be a rice harvest in various producer center areas. Currently, several commodities such as corn need the support of large amounts of subsidized fertilizer availability," said Executive Director Celios Bhima in his official statement in Jakarta, quoted from Antara, Wednesday, October 25.

Bhima also asked Minister Amran to unravel the tangled threads of the food estate and agrarian reform programs so that the optimization of agricultural land is correlated with rising food production, increasing exports of agricultural products, and prevent deforestation.

Then coordinate with the Ministry of PUPR and the Ministry of SOEs to accelerate agricultural infrastructure, especially the improvement of irrigation facilities, dams and food storage warehouses in various regions.

He also emphasized the regeneration of farmers which is a fundamental challenge. The agricultural sector is increasingly being avoided by productive age workers, so that through providing technical support, market networks, and digitization in the agricultural sector, it can increase interest in the agricultural sector.

"Involve universities and agricultural research institutions in solving various problems. One of them is in research in excellent seeds that are extreme weather resistant and various other research that are appropriate," he said.

Bhima also asked the Minister of Agriculture Amran to ensure that the eradication of corruption in all lines of the Ministry of Agriculture. Corruption makes agricultural aid ineffective, less targeted, and clearly harms farmers as well as the state budget.

"Don't repeat the mistakes of the previous Minister of Agriculture who was caught in corruption. The Minister of Agriculture was asked to activate the whistle blower system to dismantle the remnants of internal corruption," he said.

President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) inaugurated Minister of Agriculture Andi Amran Sulaiman to replace Syahrul Yasin Limpo who resigned because he was caught in a corruption case, at the State Palace, Jakarta, Wednesday morning. Amran returned to Jokowi's cabinet after previously serving as Minister of Agriculture in the 2014-2019 period.

"By Allah, I swear that I will be loyal to the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia and will carry out all laws and regulations as straight as possible for the sake of my service to the nation and state," Amran said when taking the oath of office.

Guided by President Jokowi, Amran also vowed that in carrying out his duties he would uphold the ethics of his position and work as well as possible with a full sense of responsibility.