"Modernization is what we need. I have told the Agriculture Minister to move that way step by step," Jokowi said when meeting a farmer association Qaryah Thayyibah (SPPQT) in Kalibening, Salatiga, Central Java on Monday.
He said building water reservoirs, dams and other irrigation systems is the governments duty, but if the farmers did not react positively to the government initiative, they would never be better than they are now.
He said the farmers should not think only about planting and harvesting as the biggest part of the profit is in the process of agribusiness.
"The Qaryah Thayyibah has taken the right step by consolidating farmers in big group," he said.
He said he hopes the group of farmers did not think only about the right time for planting and seeking seeds, and fertilizing their crops.
"But they also should be in charge of post harvest activities as the biggest profit is there. Therefore, consolidation should lead to the forming of organization as a farm corporation," he said.
They would then produce the fertilizer they need, building big fertilizer factory , and they should have their own rice mills and rice threshing machines.
The farmers should be able to handle their marketing that the entire profit of the farming industry would go to the farmers, he said.
(AS)
Editor: Gilang Galiartha
Copyright © ANTARA 2017
