Minister Of Agriculture Syahrul Yasin Believes Merauke Papua To Be One Of The National Food Barns, As Long As...

Minister of Agriculture when opening the training for a million farmers and extension workers in 2022.(ANTARA)

JAKARTA - Minister of Agriculture Syahrul Yasin Limpo (Mentan SYL) paid special attention to the training of millennial farmers in the Merauke region, Papua.

"One of my mainstays is you guys in Merauke," said the Minister of Agriculture when opening the training for a million millennial farmers with the title Agricultural Adaptation and Mitigation Against Climate Change, which was held virtually, Antara, Wednesday, February 23.

According to the Minister of Agriculture, the youth of Merauke have extraordinary abilities in developing agricultural potential there, so that in the future the area can become one of the national food barns.

The Minister of Agriculture said that with their capabilities, millennial farmers in Papua should be able to come up with ideas, especially in making innovations. For example, it can make organic fertilizer so that in the future it will no longer depend on the receipt of subsidized fertilizers.

"Don't rely on subsidized fertilizers anymore because we can make organic fertilizers. If there is gratitude, but if not, just keep going. I promise I will come again to Merauke to see the existing developments. I believe you are a new hope for Indonesian agriculture, " he said.

The Minister of Agriculture explained that the fertilizer problem so far is not only the responsibility of the Ministry of Agriculture because starting from line 1 to the kiosk it is on BUMN land, in this case Pupuk Indonesia Holding Company (PIHC). Then the financial problem is in the realm of the Ministry of Finance (Kemenkeu).

"The money is not in the Ministry of Agriculture. It is in the finance minister. Therefore, if there are distributors who play there (Merauke) tell me. And fertilizer is not rare, there is not enough or less," he said.

However, the government has prepared access to financing for People's Business Credit (KUR) which can be the main facility in starting a business. This assistance is expected to be a trigger for the growth and development of the agricultural sector in Papua.

"Agriculture has an economy of scale. Say one hectare if you produce 6 tons, it means the result is Rp. 30 million. If you use fertilizer, etc., you still have a profit of Rp. 9 million. Then you still have Rp. 20 million, which can be used to pay for agricultural machinery or fertilizer production. Therefore, we do not We still depend on subsidized fertilizers. We have access to KUR as capital," he said.

To note, this training involved a group of Independent Rural Agricultural Training Centers (P4S), Japanese Apprentice Alumni Association (IKAMAJA), Mainstay Farmers and Fishermen Group (KTNA), Millennial Farmers Ambassadors/ Mainstay Farmers Ambassadors (DPM/DPA), Agricultural Extension Association ( PERHIPTANI) and other agricultural personnel to be carried out by the technical implementing unit (UPT) within the scope of BPPSDMP.

Head of BPPSDMP, Dedi Nursyamsi, added that this training is a regular maximum program carried out by the Ministry of Agriculture in order to increase the knowledge of farmers and extension workers. The aim of this training is to encourage young people to adapt and mitigate climate change.

"The target participants are around 1,568,483 people or more, consisting of farmers and other agricultural people," he said.