Regarding chilli, households in villages ought to plant chilli, either in polybags or in their front yards, so there will be no longer chilli scarcity or a sudden surge in chilli prices
Jakarta (ANTARA) - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has urged households to utilize the front yards of their homes to plant foods, such as chillies, to reduce the impact of the ongoing food crisis on their family's food needs.



"Regarding chilli, households in villages ought to plant chilli, either in polybags or in their front yards, so there will be no longer chilli scarcity or a sudden surge in chilli prices," he said while observing and planting dwarf coconuts in Giriroto village, Boyolali district, Central Java, on Thursday, according to a statement received here the same day.



According to the President, the current global food crisis has been caused by ongoing global conflicts that have disrupted food supply, with at least 300 million people in various countries facing food shortages and famine.


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If no solutions are conceived to address the issue, the population affected by the global food crisis could reach up to 800 million, he cautioned.



Besides urging households to produce their own food, Widodo also advised them to utilize unused lands for planting food commodities, such as dwarf coconuts.



Dwarf coconuts can be processed into various food products, such as coconut sugar and drinks once the coconuts are harvested 2–2.5 years after planting, he pointed out.



"In a year, a coconut tree can produce up to 180 coconuts that can be made into ant sugar, coconut, oil, and sold as whole fruit (or) as a fresh drink," he said.


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Under the Free Agriculture program, dwarf coconut trees will be planted over a total of 200 thousand hectares of land in Boyolali, Karanganyar, and Sukoharjo regions, Central Java, he informed.



"It will start here, and we will also plant new coconuts in other provinces where coconuts can grow better. We are targeting at least one million dwarf coconuts. Besides coconuts, we will also plant corn and chilli," he said.


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Translator: Mentari Dwi G, Nabil Ihsan
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
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