"This movement was carried out on 500 thousand hectares spread across 100 districts in Indonesia," Inspector General of the Ministry of Agriculture Jan Samuel Maringka stated in Pangkalpinang, Thursday.
Maringka noted that Minister of Agriculture Syahrul Yasin Limpo had launched a national movement to deal with the impact of El Nino in 100 districts in 10 provinces by providing irrigation sources and fertilizers as well as conducting the distribution of seeds, rice planting, and the horticulture movement.
Moreover, there are movements to handle drought, to control Plant Pest Organisms (OPT), and to conduct insurance supervision, financing, and handling of harvest as well as post-harvest to maintain regional resilience amid agricultural challenges in Indonesia.
"Currently, the world situation is not good, and various challenges, such as food disruption due to extreme weather, which causes drought, are being faced by various countries," he remarked.
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He stated that Indonesia currently faces agricultural challenges in the form of the threat of El Nino, climate change, and the conversion of agricultural land for non-agricultural purposes.
Moreover, most Indonesian farmers are those with land of less than 0.4 hectares, categorized as small, and are older or more than 45 years of age in addition to the lack of interest among members of the younger generation in the agricultural sector.
"We encourage the village government to form reservoirs, so that if there is a drought, there will be water available for agriculture," he remarked.
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Translator: Aprionis, Cindy Frishanti Octavia
Editor: Yuni Arisandy Sinaga
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