Deputy Minister Sudaryono: Pak Prabowo's Great Mission To Make RI A Food Self-Sufficiency Country

Deputy Minister of Agriculture (Wamentan) Sudaryono. (Photo: ANTARA)

JAKARTA - Deputy Minister of Agriculture (Wamentan) Sudaryono said that his party is committed to strengthening agricultural human resources (HR), one of which is collaborating with Japan to support the big mission of President-elect Prabowo Subianto in realizing food self-sufficiency.

"One of Pak Prabowo's big missions is to make Indonesia a self-sufficient country for food and food barns in the world," said Sudaryono as quoted by ANTARA, Tuesday, October 15.

To support this, he traveled to Japan to strengthen collaboration in the development of modern agricultural human resources.

"The elected Presidential mission is to build our food to be stronger and more sustainable. Therefore, we must prepare superior human resources," he said.

The strengthening of human resources, said Wamenan, is expected to accelerate Indonesia's transformation towards independent and sustainable agriculture.

"Don't let our many young generation lack knowledge in building Indonesian agriculture," said Wamenan while attending a discussion on the Indonesian Student Association (PPI) in Japan entitled Agricultural Development Priority in the Prabowo-Gibran Government.

According to him, Japan is one of the countries that has long been a strategic partner in Indonesia's agricultural progress. For example, providing opportunities for Indonesian citizens to study and work in the country of Sakura.

He claimed to have visited a number of countries in Europe, including the Netherlands, France, and Belgium, some time ago.

Sudaryono said that the bilateral visit was carried out in order to strengthen national food security, by establishing international cooperation in agriculture education, food technology, and distribution systems.

During a visit to various countries, both in France, the Netherlands, Belgium and Asian countries, Wamenan admitted that he continued to try to lobby them to open up agricultural special workers.

"Only so far have three countries opened. First Japan, Korea, and Taiwan. But the longest is Japan," he said.

Sudaryono reminded the importance of preparing the younger generation to have knowledge in the modern agricultural sector.

Moreover, Indonesia currently has a large need in maintaining national food security through rice fields printing programs and swampland optimization (Oplah).

As strengthening national food security, he said, the government has collaborated with various stakeholders, especially the ranks of the Indonesian National Armed Forces (TNI) and the Indonesian National Police (Polri).

"In terms of food security, we involve the ranks of the TNI and Polri, because they will back up food reserves components. Why? Because the TNI also has a battalion to support the swampland area," he said.

Previously, Minister of Agriculture (Mentan) Andi Amran Sulaiman also invited Indonesian students, both studying domestically and abroad, to become pioneers of innovation and create jobs in the agricultural sector.

Agriculture transformation, according to Amran, requires skilled workers to face global challenges, with the hope that Indonesia can become a world food barn.