Realizing Food Self-Sufficiency, Prabowo Government Must Create A Directed Agriculture

Illustration (Photo: Doc Antara)

JAKARTA - Agricultural observer from the Indonesian Political Economy Association (AEPI) Khudori said the upcoming government must create a targeted agriculture as an effort to realize the target of food self-sufficiency.

According to Khudori, agriculture is currently not directed because many farmers are still growing commodities based on trends without considering market needs.

As a result, when the harvest arrives, the commodity price plummets due to excessive supply.

"Farmers are like separate roads. If there is information that certain commodities are good, all farmers immediately plant them. After the harvest coincides, the price is destroyed," said Khudori as quoted by ANTARA, Wednesday, October 16.

To overcome this problem, Khudori suggested, future governments need to carefully plan for agricultural activities.

Khudori said that the government needs to make policies that regulate plant patterns and determine commodities that need to be increased in production.

In addition, farmers need to have access to market demand so they can determine what commodities to plant and how much.

"Ideally, the planting pattern adjusts what market needs, what daily needs, how many weekly, how many months, has just been translated at the upstream level, on land," he said.

Not only that, he also said that the government needed to strengthen farmer institutions at the village level. One of them is by increasing agricultural counseling at the village level.

Farmers, he said, play an important role in providing assistance to farmers ranging from seed selection to marketing of crops.

These extensions will later become farmers' friends, assistants to farmers. So when they have problems, they have a place to ask questions and discuss, find a way out," said Khudori.

Food self-sufficiency is one of the missions in the Asta Cita program for the elected president and vice president Prabowo Subianto and Gibran Rakabuming Raka.

Several work programs will be carried out, including carrying out the Agrarian Reform agenda to improve the welfare of farmers while at the same time supporting increased production in the agriculture, plantation, forestry, livestock, fisheries, and marine sectors.

Then, revitalize and build most of the damaged and unused forests into land for palm, sweet potatoes, sweet potatoes, sago, sorghum, coconut and other bioethenol raw materials with an overlapping system to support the achievement of national energy sovereignty and create millions of new jobs.

In addition, increasing agricultural productivity through increasing people's agricultural supporting infrastructure, integrated food technology, agricultural mechanization, digital innovation (digital farming), and improving the governance of the value chain of agricultural products.