The cooperation between Indonesia and IRRI has produced many superior rice varieties, including ones with added value in terms of nutrition, IRRI's liaison scientist-Indonesia, Hasil Sembiring, noted in a statement issued on Wednesday.
“Reducing the stunting figure is Indonesia's priority. IRRI, along with the Ministry's Agriculture Research and Development Agency, has already produced one variety named Inpari Nutri Zinc," he informed.
"In the future, we will seek to produce more high nutrition varieties rich in Fe (iron), zinc, and Vitamin A so that stunting and nutritional issues can be handled," he added.
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The Indonesian government and IRRI have signed the 2020–2024 work plan, which includes fortified, climate-change tolerant rice variety breeding, digital agriculture, food policy, sustainable agronomy, and agriculture mechanization.
Head of the Agriculture Research and Development Agency, Fadjri Djufri, informed that, in addition to the Inpari Nutri Zinc variety, Indonesia currently has rice varieties with low glycemic index—fluffy red rice (Pamelen) and flavorful red rice (Pamera).
"These are all healthy rice," he said.
In the middle of June 2022, farmers in Bulak Nglegi Kapanewon Patuk, Yogyakarta, successfully harvested 6.3 tons of Inpari Nutri Zinc per hectare of dry unhusked rice.
The rice variety contains 34.5 percent zinc, which is higher than the non-nutritional variety that contains only 20 percent zinc.
On Tuesday, head of the National Population and Family Planning Agency (BKKBN), Hasto Wardoyo, informed that BKKBN and five ministries are formulating guidelines for the operational mechanism for accelerating stunting reduction up to the neighborhood level.
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Translator: Aditya Ramadhan, Fadhli Ruhman
Editor: Suharto
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