Sigi, The Indonesia Post – The Minister of Agriculture (Mentan), Syahrul Yasin Limpo said that the rice harvest by farmers nationally had started gradually entering the peak of the main harvest in March-April 2023.
“As conveyed by the president, 1 million hectares have been harvested this February, and 1.9 million hectares will be harvested in March,” said Syahrul during a working visit to Sigi Regency, Central Sulawesi, Sunday.
He stated, with this main harvest season it is hoped that the availability of domestic food ingredients will be sufficient during the moments of the Holy Month of Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr later.
Therefore, farmers as government partners need to receive a touch of stimulus to stimulate brand productivity in improving the agricultural sector.
“We ask farmers to maximize the ease of access that has been provided by the government, one of which is access to people’s business credit (KUR) in the agricultural sector. This program is carried out as an effort by the government to facilitate farmers to obtain production capital,” he said.
On that occasion, he admitted that Central Sulawesi is one of the regions that has contributed to assisting the Central Government in strengthening national food security.
Nationally, he said, according to BPS data, currently the availability of domestic food stocks, especially rice, is approximately 31.66 million tons.
“Our goal is to make visits to the regions to take a closer look and ensure that food stocks are available, as is the national food production data, and the facts we have encountered in the field are in accordance with the existing data,” he said.
According to him, the increase in food production is inseparable from the intervention of the 400 Plantation Index (IP400) program that has been implemented by farmers.
Nationally, rice fields in Indonesia cover an area of 7.4 million hectares, but rice planted this year is more than 10 million hectares with an average yield of 5 to 6 tons per hectare.
“Agricultural production experienced crop failure due to pest attacks and the impact of natural disasters, no more than 50 thousand hectares, of the 7.4 hectares of rice fields in Indonesia,” he said again.
During his working visit, the Minister of Agriculture also carried out the rice harvest in Sigi Regency together with the local government. (mhn/bbs)
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