YOGYAKARTA Garlic has long been a commodity imported from abroad, aka imports. But salt is also imported. Even though Indonesia is an archipelagic country surrounded by oceans. The question is why do you work on imported?

Presidential Chief of Staff and General Chairperson of the Indonesian Farmers Harmony Plant (HKTI) Moeldoko also admitted that a number of food commodities, including garlic and salt, must be imported. What is the reason?

Regarding garlic itself, the cause is because domestic production is only able to afford a few.

Moeldoko said garlic can only grow well if planted in areas with an altitude above 1,200 meters above sea level (masl).

If it is forced to be planted in a non-like area, then the results are not good.

"The garlic can grow at an altitude of 1,200 more than that. So if the results are forced, the results will be bad. So that those areas can be planted," said Moeldoko.

However, continued Moeldoko, to overcome this, importers must plant some of the garlic imported, in order to support domestic production.

Regarding salt imports, Moeldoko reasoned that domestic production is not enough to meet domestic needs. This is because not all beaches in Indonesia can produce salt efficiently.

"Garam can only be in certain areas that have a long dry rate. Actually, the best in NTT, Madura because the dry rate is long, because the main threat of salt is rain," said Moeldoko.

Just so you know, the domestic demand for garlic reaches 669,000 per tonne every year. However, garlic production in Indonesia is only at the level of 23,000 tons per year.

This was conveyed by the Head of the National Food Agency Arief Prasetyo Adi at Commission IV of the DPR RI.

According to Arief's statement, Indonesia must import more than 90 percent of garlic to meet domestic needs between limited production.

"As of May 29, 2023, domestic production is only 23,000 tons," said Arief in an RDP with Commission IV of the Indonesian House of Representatives, Monday, June 5, 2023.

That's information about the government's reason for importing garlic and salt. Get news updates of other options only on VOI.ID.


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