"The COVID-19 pandemic gave valuable lessons so that we can focus more on research based on local natural ingredients of Indonesia, especially for food and energy products, including health," BRIN head Laksana Tri Handoko said when contacted by ANTARA here on Monday.
To this end, one of BRIN's main priorities is conducting research and creating technologies and innovations to encourage Indonesia to reach food and energy sovereignty.
The research and innovations cover topics such as increasing food productivity, developing high-yielding varieties, increasing the added value of food products, as well as finding and utilizing Indonesian natural local materials for health purposes and the production of medicines.
"Food sovereignty, including health, is the main goal of BRIN," he stated.
Energy sovereignty is one of BRIN's main focuses for the short term until 2024, Handoko added.
In addition to the exploration of energy sources and their use for energy sovereignty, research related to energy is crucial, especially to support global efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in order to fight climate change.
He said that research in energy is very broad-ranging compared to conventional energy, for example, on fuel (BBM). Thus, BRIN is seeking to conduct research and produce technology and innovations to reduce fuel consumption.
Fuel use can be reduced by utilizing renewable energy sources, such as palm oil or other biological sources, to produce biofuels as substitutes for conventional fuel.
"For example, the B40 (40 percent biodiesel) mixture for a short-term solution because we cannot migrate to electric, and reducing fuel by using renewable energy sources such as palm oil and so on because we are rich in biological resources," he said.
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Translator: Martha Herlinawati, Raka Adji
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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