Ministry Of Agriculture Encourages Optimization Of Pumpization In Semarang To Improve Agricultural Productivity

Photo: Doc. Antara

JAKARTA - Acting Secretary General of the Ministry of Agriculture (Secretary General of the Ministry of Agriculture) Prihasto Setyanto encourages optimization of the use of pumping in Semarang, Central Java, in order to increase the productivity of rice farming in the area.

"Pompanization is designed to solve the drought problem that is being faced by our agricultural sector," said Prihasto in a statement in Jakarta, quoted from Antara, Friday, July 12.

Prihasto conducted a review and coordination meeting regarding the implementation of the pumping program in Semarang.

He emphasized that with the pumping, farmers can take advantage of the optimally available water sources, so that rice production remains stable and can even be increased in the planting season.

"Pompanization is a breakthrough initiated by the Minister of Agriculture Andi Amran Sulaiman as an effort to optimize water sources in order to deal with the El Nino phenomenon and a prolonged dry season," he said.

During his visit, Prihasto emphasized that the pumping program involved many parties. This aims to ensure that rice production remains safe and the community's food needs are met despite the challenges of extreme weather.

"I really believe that with the Heads of the Department and the Dandim, Danrem throughout Central Java, this solid cooperation has resulted in something quite good, quite significant in expanding the planting area for the Central Java region," said Prihasto.

According to Prihasto, coordination between the central government, regional governments and the TNI is the main capital so that with this collaboration, challenges and obstacles in the field can be resolved.

Even so, he admitted that there were indeed several problems that arose in the field that needed to be handled immediately.

"But in general, we can handle it well through coordination meetings, we also always communicate every day in groups, feet have groups that are reported every day in what kinds of situations, developments in Central Java," explained Prihasto.

Prihasto explained, the Government has made efforts to accelerate and increase the planting area. In fact, the Ministry of Agriculture has also refocused the budget for the provision of pumps. However, he did not mention the amount of the budget.

"We have refocused the budget, have received additional budget ABTs) for pumping, Central Java, there are more than 7,000 pumps, pumping irrigation, pipe irrigation, pumps and small pumps," said Prihasto.

Meanwhile, the Head of the Agriculture and Plantation Office of Central Java, Supriyanto, explained that 4,340 units of pumps had been distributed in his area.

"The pumped that has been used, has reached the field and has taken 325 units of water, the rest are distributed in the process," said Supriyanto.