JAKARTA - Heavy rains flushed the Sendangmulyo Rice Fields area, Sleman, Yogyakarta Special Region (DIY) when the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Puan Maharani, came there to participate in planting rice crops.
You are here on a working visit. He encourages farmers to be technology literate so that agricultural products are more productive so that their welfare increases.
Puan came to the rice field area even though it was raining heavily. He also went down to the fields to plant rice with a number of women farmers in the middle of a 6-hectare agricultural land.
While planting the rice seeds, Puan also took the time to have a dialogue with the farmers. Wearing a caping and typical farmer's shoes, Puan sometimes speaks Javanese.
"Piro nek harvests (how much if you harvest?), Neng Endi sells it (where do you sell it?)" Puan asked the farmers as in her written statement, Thursday, November 11.
The farmers also answered Puan's question. They also talked about a number of obstacles faced by farmers so far, including fertilizers and distribution channels at harvest.
Puan also talked with farmer groups and millennial farmers in the rice fields. Accompanied by the Deputy Regent of Sleman Danang Maharsa, Puan listened to the aspirations of the farmers while enjoying boiled peanuts and sweet potatoes.
"This time I am here to focus on planting rice, let the people harvest later. So far, many people have focused on the harvest. Even though the process before harvesting is long and starts with us planting," said Puan.
"I want to know what are the needs and problems that exist here regarding farmers. How to plant rice, harvest it and where it is sold or bought after harvest. That is my concern," he continued.
A farmer named Tusiran conveyed various complaints faced by farmers in Sendangmulyo. Starting from the low price of grain to the frequent late distribution of subsidized fertilizers, including the high price.
"Hopefully Mrs. Puan coming here can encourage the farmers in Sendangmulyo. Because most farmers are now the elders. Hopefully with your mother coming, there will be farmers from the younger generation who will be our successors,” explained Tusiran.
“We hope the government will pay attention to the farmers. What is the benchmark for the price of grain, because many farmers don't even know. We also hope that the farm roads will be repaired because during the rainy season the roads are damaged, bringing the grain using a motorbike or car often slips,” he added.
Farmers also hope that there will be a water mains because during the dry season, the water to flow through the fields is not smooth. To the Deputy Regent, Puan asked whether the farmers' hopes could be realized soon.
"Every year, we will gradually finish this step by step," replied Deputy Regent Danang.
To Sendangmulyo Village Head Budi Susanto, Puan also asked if the village funds were used to build agricultural infrastructure. Lurah Budi said that currently village funds cannot be used to assist agricultural development because the budget is focused on direct Covid-19 assistance to the community.
“Before COVID, what were village funds for?” asked Mrs.
"For social assistance to the community, the construction of village roads. We also build shelters,” said the Lurah.
Then Puan asked for the aspirations of the millennial farmers who were present, one of whom was Linggarsari Ayu. The woman who is familiarly called Ayu revealed that she chose to become a farmer because she wanted to help her elderly parents.
"I hope that in the future there will be young farmers who want to work on their parents' fields so that their fields are not sold or planted with concrete for use at home," said Ayu.
Puan also supports the emergence of many millennial farmers. He emphasized that Indonesia cannot have food sovereignty without farmers. Therefore, the DPR RI continues to pay great attention to how to improve the welfare of farmers.
"Because their hands feed us all. We need to work together to produce more comprehensive solutions to the classic problems of agriculture. Such as the question of high fertilizer prices, selling and buying prices, anticipation of crop failure, and so on,” said Puan.
The former Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Culture also talked about the digital agricultural economy, which is the time to be looked at and developed because it can help farmers. For this reason, Puan praised the website-based application as a small marketplace for agricultural products initiated by the Agriculture, Food and Fisheries Service of Sleman Regency. The application is a place for farmers and potential buyers to meet online.
“The website is a good example of using technology to help farmers. Needs to be enlarged again and complete the features. Farmers really need to be technology literate,” said Puan.
At the end of the activity, Puan provided assistance to the Sendangmulyo Agriculture group. Starting from 20 hand tractors, 20 water pumps, 1,000 seeds and 100 food packages for local farmers. The grandson of the Proclaimer Bung Karno was also asked to take a group photo when greeting residents.
The English, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, and French versions are automatically generated by the AI. So there may still be inaccuracies in translating, please always see Indonesian as our main language. (system supported by DigitalSiber.id)
