"On the potential food crisis that I said earlier, actually there is an opportunity in the food aspect that we can seek in the short run," the President said during a cabinet meeting at the State Palace here on Monday.
He suggested that some food commodities be planted and harvested in a short timeframe, including corn and soy, which have a three-month to 100-day cycle, and rice, which has a four-month cycle.
President Jokowi said he is convinced that Indonesia still has sufficient land to exploit this opportunity, including by utilizing lands with land titles for industrial purposes.
Besides land availability, Indonesia also has sufficient human resources to turn the ongoing crisis into an opportunity, he noted. Indonesia’s seas also have equally huge potential, he added.
"Imagine if we can produce foods in a short period and we implement all of it, we will not only achieve self-sufficiency in the food aspect, but we also have the potential to export (our foods)," he stated.
Food is easy to market, he noted while revealing that there is a country that has requested 100 thousand tons of rice per month from Indonesia.
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"That is indeed a huge request. Some have requested 100 thousand tons of rice every month, while some others have requested 2.5 million tons only for this year," President Jokowi said.
Monday’s meeting was attended by ministers of the Onward Indonesia Cabinet and leaders of government institutions, including the newly-inaugurated Trade Minister Zulkifli Hasan, who has been tasked with addressing cooking oil issues in Indonesia.
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Translator: Gilang Galiartha, Nabil Ihsan
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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