Prioritizing Farmer Welfare, Minister Of Agriculture Amran Will Reduce Travel Of The Ministry Of Agriculture In The Context Of Budget Refocusing

Minister of Agriculture, Andi Amran Sulaiman. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - Minister of Agriculture (Mentan) Andi Amran Sulaiman said budget refocusing measures to prioritize the food sector and support farmers' welfare amidst the challenges of food availability due to the impact of El Nino's natural phenomenon.

"I'd rather fast official travel, overseas travel than farmers suffer. I sacrificed everything for the sake of Indonesian farmers and plants to increase," said the Minister of Agriculture while reviewing the planting movement in Bojonegoro Regency, Central Java, quoted from Antara, Monday, March 18.

Amran admitted that he was ready to refocus the budget, such as cutting technical guidance costs, procuring goods to reducing official travel and other ceremonial costs.

According to Amran, this is important because Indonesia is currently in a state of food emergency due to the impact of El Nino's natural phenomenon that has hit almost all over the world.

El Nino this year has reduced national production because some centers experience crop failure. He is worried that if food problems are not resolved properly, it will lead to social conflicts and even security disturbances across the country.

"Remember sir, if a crisis occurs, the government can be chaotic, social conflict occurs and leads to security disturbances. That's why Bung Karno's speech was said that food is the death of a nation, this is the time for us to unite and join hands," he said.

Regarding this, the Minister of Agriculture hopes that communication and collaboration between parties will continue to be carried out to strengthen the role of farmers who are struggling to produce. One of them is monitoring the pump and seed budget for farmers.

"Please don't cut off the communication between Mr. Dandim, the head of the hall, Kajari, Kapolres, Director General, Kadis and others. We are doing this so that this pump movement runs massively throughout Indonesia. We have a budget of IDR 2 trillion to maximize planting," said Amran.

According to the Minister of Agriculture, pumping is a quick solution that must be done to strengthen national food security. Meanwhile, from the current map, the East Java region has thousands of hectares that must be watered properly so that the plant can be increased.

"The quick solution to deal with El Nino at this time is to pump the river that is not dry. If we build rice fields, it takes a long time, while at this time we need food. East Java has thousands of hectares that we can water and is close to solo tourists. God willing, we will prepare a pump for this," explained Amran.

Previously, the Ministry of Agriculture (Kementan) prepared a budget of IDR 7.74 trillion from the 2024 APBN ceiling to increase the production of rice and corn crops so that they could realize food self-sufficiency.

"So that the target of 32 tons of rice is achieved by the Ministry of Agriculture to refocus the budget of IDR 7.74 trillion to support the acceleration of increasing rice production and corn," said Agriculture Minister Andi Amran Sulaiman virtually in a working meeting with Commission IV DPR RI at the Parliament Building. Jakarta, Wednesday 13 March.