Kementan Jamin Produksi Beras Di Banten Aman Pada Awal 2023

Photo: Doc. Antara

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Agriculture (Kementan) guarantees rice production in Banten Province, relatively safe in early 2023 with an harvested rice area of 76,000 hectares. "We continue to encourage farmers to increase rice production," said Director General of Food Crops Kemenan Suwandi in his statement after the harvest in Pandeglang Regency, quoted from Antara, Wednesday, January 11. Based on the Area▁sampel Framework Survey (KSA) of the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) of rice harvest in Banten Province in early 2023 covering an area of 76,000 hectares with details of January's harvest covering an area of 18,000 hectares and February covering an area of 58,000. The 76,000 hectares of rice stocks for the consumption of Banten people with a population of 13 million are safer. The Ministry of Representatives appreciates the hard work of the Banten Provincial Government, stakeholders and farmer groups to increase the production and productivity of these foods. Currently, the Banten region enters the food barn area and contributes national-level rice production with an eighth rank. However, the Ministry of Agriculture continues to provide directions to monitor and escort rice harvest activities in early 2023 which will take place from January to April 2023. The harvest peak occurs in March-April this year nationally, but in early 2023 it is very broad, even based on the BPS's prognosis of rice harvest area in February covering an area of 1.4 million hectares. "From the harvest area of 1.4 million hectares estimated to produce rice as much as 4.3 million tons and one of them is the mainstay of the food barn center in Banten as a food buffer for the Capital City," he explained. Suwandi said to maintain and increase the availability of national rice, the Ministry of Agriculture seriously carries out rice harvesting activities while ensuring farmers to carry out replanting activities.

In addition to escorting, the Ministry of Agriculture provides support for seed assistance, fertilizers, mechanization, post-harvest handling and capital facilities through People's Business Credit (KUR) as well as encouraging farmers' grains to be absorbed by Perum Bulog while still getting guaranteed profitable prices. For this reason, the Ministry of Agriculture encourages optimization of planting areas and increased production using technology, one of which is through Biosaka. Biosaka is not fertilizer but an elistitor that uses surrounding grass that functions to fertilize the land and minimize disease pests so as to reduce the use of chemical fertilizer by up to 50 percent.

The Acting Governor of Banten, Al Muktabar said that rice harvest at the beginning of 2023 was very abundant and encouraged Perum Bulog to absorb grain from farmers so that prices during the harvest were beneficial for farmers. Rice production in Banten Province, especially Pandeglang in 2023, is expected to increase due to support from the Ministry of Agriculture, both production advice assistance and encouraging the spirit of farmers by using agricultural technology. In addition, Pandeglang Regent Irna Narulita said the local government appreciated the Ministry of Agriculture, which during the previous year until 2022 was very consistent in providing assistance for agricultural development, especially in increasing rice production. Currently, Pandeglang agriculture in any condition remains resilient and supports the food needs of the capital city of Jakarta, especially Banten. Pandeglang agriculture is an example for other farmers and today the harvest of rice in Margagiri Village, Pagelaran District. Rice production in Pandeglang in 2023 is abundant with an average productivity of 6 tons of wet/hectare grains.

"Thanks to the Ministry of Agriculture's assistance, the results were extraordinary until Banten was ranked eighth as the largest national rice producer," said Irna.