Jokowi made the statement during his speech via video conference at the Release of Agricultural Exports, as witnessed on the Presidential Secretariat's YouTube channel on Saturday.
"Currently, out of the 514 districts and cities throughout Indonesia, only 293 have centers of leading agricultural commodities for exports," the president noted at the Bogor Presidential Palace, West Java, Saturday.
The export commodities in several areas comprised palm products, rubber, coffee, and various other commodities of interest to the global market. Several commodities can still be potentially developed, he affirmed.
According to the head of state, export commodities that can be developed comprised swallows' nests, porang plants, jasmine flowers, ornamental plants, edamame, essential oils for which customers have developed interest in recent years, and other horticultural products as well as processed livestock products whose markets are increasingly open.
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However, Widodo reminded Indonesia to not solely focus on increasing production but also prioritize improving agricultural technology to boost productivity and conduct downstreaming in a bid to increase the added value and calculate economies of scale by clustering.
"This is very important. We must develop product mechanization and promotion of digital-based products, so that our agricultural products are more widely known and competitive," Jokowi reiterated.
The president also called for strengthening domestic and foreign markets.
Domestically, people must be encouraged to purchase the nation's agricultural products and to consume healthy food. Meanwhile, foreign markets must also be pursued intensively through an integrated system in place to penetrate non-traditional markets of foreign countries.
"This is our opportunity, a very good momentum during this pandemic to expand our potential market," Widodo noted in his closing statement.
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Translator: Rangga J, Resinta S
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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