"A soldier should be able to cook. How does it taste? Is the sorghum hard?" Moeldoko, who is also the former Indonesian Military (TNI) Commander, asked a resident who got a plate of fried rice made of sorghum.
The Sorghum Food Truck event was held by the National Food Agency, with the aim of educating the public that receiving satiety is not merely from eating rice.
Sorghum as an alternative food source has many benefits such as high nutritional value and great taste. Moeldoko said that not many people know that sorghum crops can be an alternative to rice.
"It is high in fiber, good in carbohydrates, and low in sugar. People need to get to know about healthy food, (especially) sorghum," he said.
Related news: Moeldoko calls for accelerating development of sorghum ecosystem
He said that the government is currently building an ecosystem for the development of sorghum cultivation, by looking for as many off-takers as possible.
One of the off-takers considered by the government is the animal feed industry, whiose production needs 50 percent corn and another 50 percent protein, and that can be obtained from sorghum.
"If there are a lot of off-takers, then the uptake of sorghum into the market will also be huge; farmers want to plant them, and seed research can be done. This ecosystem is what we are building," the KSP Chief explained.
Meanwhile, Head of the National Food Agency Arief Prasetyo Adi stated that through the Sorghum Food Truck, his party wanted to convey to the public that sorghum is a potential food source to be developed in Indonesia.
"We hope that sorghum will be more popular among the public so that it opens up wider market opportunities and can encourage its further development," Adi said.
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Translator: Rangga J, Kenzu
Editor: Suharto
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