Here's KKP's Efforts To Support Food Self-Sufficiency Made By Prabowo Subianto

Fisheries (photo: dock. Antara)

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (KKP) has taken part in supporting the food self-sufficiency program launched by President Prabowo Subianto through a blue food source. Moreover, the marine and fisheries sector has great potential in the success of this target.

The Director General of Strengthening the Competitiveness of Marine and Fishery Products (PDSPKP) KKP Budi Sulistiyo said that one of the blue food sources is fish. He said this commodity is a source of protein, nutrients and other food processing raw materials.

Budi said this was also driven by data from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) in 2022 which noted that 53 percent of national protein consumption came from fish proteins.

"As an archipelagic country, this is our opportunity to better explore and manage how to provide this protein for the people of Indonesia," Budi said on the Bincang Bahari agenda at the KKP office, Jakarta, Monday, November 11.

According to Budi, Indonesia has been self-sufficiency in fish. However, his party is currently mapping how the fishery results can support the food self-sufficiency program.

The production of Indonesian fish in 2023 was recorded at 24.74 million tons, consisting of 7.77 million tons of capture fisheries and 16.97 million tons of agricultural fishery products, including seaweed.

He assessed that currently his party is also working on derivative products from seaweed to produce biofertilizers as agricultural fertilizer. According to Budi, this can help the government in realizing food self-sufficiency.

"We hope that this food self-sufficiency policy will be a trigger for how to encourage the production of fertilizers from seaweed," said Budi.

Fertilizer from seaweed, said Budi, is part of the downstreaming of one of the KKP's fostered businesses from Bali.

"The production we receive from these business actors is 3,600 tons per year, this can meet 120,000 hectares (ha) of land for fertilizer needs. If we look at the availability of national fertilizers, there is still little," he said.

Furthermore, said Budi, the fertilizer has been tested at 131 agricultural land points that support the rice crop sector and so on. He said that his party would also coordinate with the Ministry of Agriculture (Kementan) to promote fertilizer from the seaweed.

"It has been circulated, they tested it in the Bali area and then Sulawesi," he concluded.