Minister Of Industry Agus Gumiwang: Analog Sagu Rice Can Be An Alternative To Rice

Minister of Industry (Menperin) Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

Minister of Industry (Menperin) Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita said analog sago rice could be the main food to replace rice, especially when there is scarcity.

The Minister of Industry said this was because Indonesia had a sago land of 5.5 million hectares which had the potential to produce sago bags of 34.3 million tons.

"To meet domestic food needs, the government is currently trying to fulfill food from alternative sources. There are many alternative sources, especially sago, and sago that have the potential to be developed as alternative foodstuffs for the main source of carbohydrates," said the Minister of Industry in Jakarta, quoted from Antara, Monday, March 25.

The Minister of Industry said that in addition to being a major food alternative for the community, analog sago rice is also considered healthier because it contains a high resistance regent, as well as a glycemic index or sooner or later the element of carbohydrates in foodstuffs to increase blood sugar levels in the low body. So that according to him, it is good to prevent diabetes.

Furthermore, the Minister of Industry said that to realize this, his party always coordinates with related ministries and institutions (K/L) to meet the supply needs of raw materials.

"So if the industries are ready related to sago, what we have to prepare again is the upstream of the supply, the supply of sago raw materials," he said.

Earlier on Friday, March 8, the Director General of Agro Industry at the Ministry of Industry, Putu Juli Ardika, said last year his party was working with several large industries that are national sago star producers to increase production utilization.

"The national sago bag industry production utilization is currently still very low, which is below 30 percent. This is the impact of limited industries to obtain sago empiruk raw materials," he said.

Furthermore, he said the government is working with the sago star industry to develop industrial business models by using wet sago for the production of MSMEs as raw materials in the industry.

The use of MSME wet sago is considered to be able to slow down the oxidation process, so that the range of industrial raw materials is wider, and can provide added value to sago farmers.