Anticipate Food Crisis, 5 Regions In Bengkulu Become Food Barns

Farmers in Bengkulu saaf plant rice. (ANTARA)

BENGKULU - The Department of Horticulture and Plantation Crops (TPHP) Bengkulu Province said that there are five areas that have the potential to become regional food barns to deal with the threat of a food crisis. The five regions are South Bengkulu Regency, Seluma Regency, Mukomuko Regency, Kaur Regency and Central Bengkulu Regency. "In the midst of a rice field crisis in Bengkulu Province, there are five areas in the area that still have the potential to become a regional food barn," said Bengkulu Province TPHP Agriculture Infrastructure and Facilities Head Helmi Yuliandri, quoted by ANTARA, Sunday, March 19. For these five regions, the Bengkulu Provincial Government will make regulations for the protection of sustainable agricultural sector production land or regional food barns. This is done, because currently the Bengkulu Province's rice fields remain around 50 thousand out of 100 thousand hectares in 2016. Oleh said Helmi, the Bengkulu Provincial Government continues to propose land expansion to the central government, but is constrained because there is an overlap of mining sector licensing in rice fields. The continuation is needed to meet the food needs of Bengkulu communities for around 75 thousand hectares of rice fields, so that the five regions can help meet food needs. Meanwhile, his party appealed to all farmers to be aware of counterfeit fertilizer products circulating in the market ahead of the planting season. "It is advised to farmers to be more thorough in buying fertilizers because there are many illegal products circulating," explained Helmi.

Therefore, farmers are asked to be more selective in choosing fertilizers for agriculture, because the use of illegal fertilizers has almost the same price as subsidized products, but it will have a negative impact on soil fertility. Not registered in the Ministry of Agriculture is very easy for people to find in the market, even in the midst of rising fertilizer prices and revocation of fertilizer subsidies in certain plant commodities.