Minister Of Agriculture Invites Farmers To Become Food Heroes In The Middle Of The COVID-19 Pandemic

Minister of Agriculture Syahrul Yasin Limpo attends the harvest in Cialam Jaya Village, Konda District, South Konawe Regency, Southeast Sulawesi, Thursday, October 22. (Harianto / Antara)

JAKARTA - Minister of Agriculture Syahrul Yasin Limpo urged farmers to become food heroes in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Farmers are fighters from this country and nation of Indonesia. Therefore, let us become domestic fighters by preparing food for the people, especially in Southeast Sulawesi," said the Minister of Agriculture while attending the main harvest in Cialam Jaya Village, Konawe Selatan Regency, Southeast Sulawesi, Thursday , reported by Antara, October 22.

Syahrul said that farmers in Southeast Sulawesi, especially in that area, must also be able to contribute to the interests of all over Indonesia.

Food needs, he continued, must be prepared more strongly in the era of the COVID-19 pandemic as directed by President Joko Widodo.

"We will push even stronger to be able to produce, increase productivity, especially rice, because our food needs must be prepared more strongly in the era of the COVID-19 pandemic like this and this is the President's instructions," he said.

The Minister of Agriculture also said that his presence in the village was to intervene farmers so that they could produce good production.

"Therefore, my presence in South Konawe is to see the expanse that is still good, which is of course good variety intervention, cultivation that is strong enough for good mechanization, to make our productivity even higher, and of course we hope that the absorption capacity will be higher later. can be done well, "he snapped.

In addition, he said that economies around the world were in decline. However, the agricultural sector continues to grow positively, even in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Exports in the period January to July 2020 reached IDR 251 trillion.

"Agricultural trade is open and agriculture if it still has sun means that it can still grow there, if there is still water, let it be a little certain there must be certain varieties of plants that we can sell there," he concluded.