Ganjar Pranowo Will Disseminate Rojoele Rice Seeds Srinuk To All Central Java

Photo via Central Java Provincial Government

Central Java Governor Ganjar Pranowo encouraged the rice seeds of the Rojole Srinuk variety to be immediately circulated to increase regional rice production. Rice from Kalten is the flagship product of Central Java because it has premium quality.

"So the good Srinuk seeds will be circulated immediately. If it is included in the category that is superior and interesting, why not use it," said Ganjar after the Coordination Meeting for the Evaluation of Food Crops and Horticulture Products, at the Office of the Agriculture and Plantation Office of Central Java Province, Ungaran, Semarang Regency, Wednesday 15 February.

The Rojoele Srinuk variety was developed by the Klaten Regency Government in collaboration with the National Nuclear Energy Agency (Batan). The rice seeds of Rojole Srinuk have various advantages.

Among them, the harvest period tends to be short and disease resistant. In addition, it also has excellent taste and texture.

Ganjar said, Indonesia must have superior seeds to help increase regional rice productivity. Ganjar encouraged the Ministry of Agriculture (Kementan) and the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN), together to create good rice seeds.

"We are trying to encourage, for example there are many research institutions in the Ministry of Agriculture, quite a lot, there is BRIN let's make superior seeds. Indonesia for food crops must have its own superior seeds," said Ganjar.

Based on data from the Central Java Distanbun, agricultural productivity for rice crops is in the range of 5.6 million tons per hectare. According to Ganjar, this productivity must be increased, so that Central Java's achievements as a province with a national rice barn are maintained.

"When we talk about productivity, our challenges are still tough. Plus now climate change is indeed making our agricultural situation change, whether it's disease, whether it's quality, and so on," said the governor.

In an effort to increase rice productivity, Ganjar will also communicate to farmers regarding their respective planting patterns so that the harvest area is evenly distributed. He also plans to combine urea and organic fertilizers as rice production materials.

"The area for our needs is 1,004,750.89 tons, this is the need. The allocation that can be given to us is 74.05 percent. This means that we are indeed lacking for urea. So what should we do? In some places we started to encourage to combine it with organic fertilizers," said Ganjar.

"We are also trying to communicate a planting pattern. But this requires communication to fellow farmers so that they want to. Second, we will also invite rice traders to take communication so that we can take care of it together," he continued.

Ganjar hopes that Central Java's rice stock will be more abundant with this increased agricultural productivity. Ganjar will also directly control rice harvests to areas in Central Java.

"I will check again in several areas that were harvested yesterday, so that later people can know, we can monitor the reserves, including in baskets," concluded Ganjar.

Rojolele Srinuk has received a release decree from the Ministry of Agriculture (Kementan) number 481/HK.540/C/10/2019. In addition, this brand has also received Plant Varieties Protection Rights (PVT) from the Center for the Protection of Agricultural Plant and Licensing Varieties (PPVTPT) of the Ministry of Agriculture Number 00551/PPVT/S/2022.

For information, Central Java also has a program to Improve the Plant Index. With this program, the harvest area in Central Java will also increase by 1.79 percent compared to 2020. Initially, only about 1.67 million hectares were increased to 1.70 million hectares in 2021, and continued to increase in 2022.