In his remarks at the Ministry of Agriculture Auditorium, Jakarta, on Monday, Amran said the appointment was a manifestation of bureaucratic reform implementation to improve the ministry`s performance to realize modern agricultural development and prosperity for farmers.
"I asked the Alsintan Director to optimize and increase the placement of agricultural equipment and machinery, especially for swamp land," he stated.
Responding to this, the newly appointed Director of Alsintan, Andi Nur Alam Syah, confirmed that optimizing the use of agriculture machinery is the main work that must be completed.
This is important considering that the ministry`s assistance, in the form of agriculture equipment during the Jokowi-Jusuf Kalla administration, has so far been very large, at 423,197 units, which was an increase of 1,526 units from 2013.
"The distribution and utilization of `alsintan` assistance must be right. We have to assure that local governments and farmers who get assistance have used Alsintan to boost production and farmers` income," Andi remarked.
He added that his party would be actively involved in the field to collect data and ensure that the `alsintan` operated properly.
Modern agricultural tools will help agricultural activities, from upstream to downstream, to be carried out quickly in a cost effective manner.
In addition to the Director of Alsintan, the Minister of Agriculture also appointed nine high ranked officials and six Directors of the Agricultural Development Polytechnic.
Reporting by Mentari Dwi Gayati
Editing by Eliswan
Reporter: Antara
Editor: Eliswan Azly
Copyright © ANTARA 2018
