In order to optimize the utilization of the Agricultural Equipment and Machinery (Alsintan) to further mechanize the agricultural sector, Agriculture Minister Amran Sulaiman recently (Nov 12) appointed Andi Nur Alam Syah as the director of Alsintan Affairs.
Sulaiman assigned Alamsyah to implement the program and to improve the ministry`s performance to realize modern agricultural development and to improve the prosperity of farmers.
"I asked the Alsintan Director to optimize the distribution of agricultural equipment and machinery, especially for swamp lands," the minister stated.
Alamsyah, in his response, confirmed that the main area of emphasis was to optimize the use of agriculture machinery.
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, reaching 423,197 units, which was an increase of 1,526 units from 2013.
"The distribution and utilization of Alsintan assistance must be done right. We have to assure that local governments and farmers who get assistance have used Alsintan to boost production and farmers` income," Alamsyah remarked.
Modern agricultural tools will help agricultural activities, from upstream to downstream, to be carried out quickly in a cost-effective manner. After all, the government has been able to increase agricultural efficiency by 48 percent over the past four years by encouraging agricultural modernization through Alsintan assistance.
"The use of Alsintan to encourage agricultural modernization can increase farming efficiency by 35 to 48 percent," Director General of Agricultural Infrastructure and Facilities (PSP) Pending Dadih Permana noted at a press conference in Jakarta on Friday (Nov 23).
Permana remarked that Alsintan was provided in the form of two-wheeled tractors, four-wheeled tractors, water pumps, rice transplanting equipment, choppers, cultivators, excavators, hand sprayers, corn planting tools, and semi-manual corn planting tools.
Efforts to encourage the modernization of agriculture with the assistance of machinery and agricultural equipment have been going on since 2015.
In 2015, there were 54,083 units distributed; in 2016, 148,832 units were distributed; while in 2017, there were 84,356 units distributed. Up October 2018, a total of 385,170 units had been distributed. Alsintan was given to farmer groups / association of farmer groups and Alsintan Business Service.
Permana explained that the Ministry of Agriculture encourages modernization in agricultural cultivation as a whole, including land-processing activities, planting, harvesting, and processing agricultural products.
This step can overcome the problem of limited workforce in the agricultural sector and also contribute to increasing farmers` income. In addition, modern agricultural tools can also increase the attractiveness of the younger generation.
"The younger generations are more and more engaged in agriculture activities, from land processing to harvesting," the director general of agricultural infrastructure and facilities explained.
The agricultural modernization movement has also helped to expand swamps. Based on data from the Swamp and Tidal Regions Data Center, Indonesia has potential swamp land of 33.4 million hectares, consisting of land in tidal area of 20.1 million hectares and swamps of 13.3 million hectares.
Of this number, Permana revealed that an area of 9.3 million hectare is estimated to be suitable for the development and cultivation of agriculture.
Efforts to use swamp land with a pattern of land optimization have been initiated since 2016. In 2016, the PSP directorate general carried out optimization activities of 3,999 hectares of swamps, and then in 2017, it covered 3,529 hectares and 16,400 hectares in 2018 (as of Nov 5, 2018).
In 2019, the Ministry of Agriculture, through the Directorate General of PSP, plans to develop a swamp area of 500 thousand hectares spreading across Kalimantan, Sumatra, and Sulawesi.
"In the current swamp area, the planting index (IP) can increase to 1.0. This can happen because it is facilitated by highly adaptive technology. It is unlike in the past when farmers usually had to wait for the tidal water to recede first and then plant," Permana pointed out.
Over the past four years, the PSP directorate general`s policy and program has focused on the development of four agricultural commodity sub-sectors, namely food crops, horticulture, plantations, and livestock.
Such support is provided in the form of water management, development of a system of financing agricultural businesses, development of agricultural mechanization systems, facilitation of subsidized fertilizers, and expansion and protection of land.
Editing by Rahmad Nasution
Reporter: Andi Abdussalam
Editor: Yosep Hariyadi
Copyright © ANTARA 2018
