President Pursues Indonesia's Swasembada Food Target In Four Years

President Prabowo (Photo: Antara)

JAKARTA - The President of the Republic of Indonesia, Prabowo Subianto, has made the Ministry of Agriculture a leading sector to pursue the target of food self-sufficiency within four years. He also appealed to all ministries and related parties to provide support.

"All ministries are asked to support everything needed by the Ministry of Agriculture as the leading sector for us to pursue food self-sufficiency for the next three to four years," said Minister of State Secretary (Mensesneg) Prasetyo Hadi after attending the Red and White Cabinet Retret at Akmil Magelang, Central Java, quoted from ANTARA, Sunday, October 27.

Prasetyo said that self-sufficiency in food is a priority program that is the main concern for President Prabowo Subianto.

According to the President, Prasetyo, self-sufficiency in food is a must, considering that Indonesia is an agricultural country that should not depend on other countries to meet food needs.

"We are an agricultural country, our land is fertile. We must not depend on other countries for food needs," said Presetyo quoting President Prabowo.

In addition to self-sufficiency in food, Prabowo also emphasized self-sufficiency in energy, so that all preparations from the ministers must be carried out in order to achieve that target.

The food and energy self-sufficiency is the main concern of President Prabowo Subianto, as stated in a directive at the Perdana Plenary Cabinet Session on Wednesday, October 23. He also asked his cabinet to work together to be able to realize these two things in his leadership era during the 2024-2029 period.

According to Prabowo, the two things needed to reflect on the uncertain global geopolitical conditions so that independence in terms of energy and food is needed by Indonesia so that it can survive in this uncertain situation.

"We have to be self-sufficient in food, it's a basic priority because the global situation, a big war, can break out at any time. We must guarantee our ability to feed our own people. Self-sufficiency is energy, absolute," Prabowo said in the First Plenary Cabinet Session at the Presidential Office, Jakarta, Wednesday (23/10).

For food self-sufficiency, Prabowo said Indonesia has many potential and very large natural resources. This potential must now be utilized wisely without hesitation through downstreaming these sources.

He also hopes that the downstream program can also be carried out by his cabinet officials in order to realize energy self-sufficiency in Indonesia.