"I urge district heads and governors throughout Indonesia to pay special attention to the agricultural sector because it is a vital sector. If problems are faced in the agriculture sector, then the entire world can experience problems," Sulaiman cautioned in a statement here on Wednesday.
The minister emphasized this aspect while opening the 2024 National Agricultural Development Planning Conference attended by 1,500 representatives from provincial, district, and city agricultural offices across the country in a hybrid format.
He remarked that the conference is an annual event held by the Agriculture Ministry to unite ideas and formulate activity plans to accelerate agricultural development in facing climate change and the global food crisis.
At the conference held on June 25-28 and scheduled to continue on July 1, Minister Sulaiman brought the attention of the participants to three crucial steps that should be taken.
"First, make sure the pumping program runs well," he remarked.
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He explained that the water pumping program aims to distribute water from rivers by installing pumps and pipes to support rice field irrigation.
According to Sulaiman, this is a quick solution to increase the Crop Planting Index and boost rice production amid the threat of El Nino.
He called on the regional agriculture offices to check the fields to ensure water availability and report the need for pumping so that this program could run smoothly and on target.
"Secondly, swamp optimization must be pursued, and third, focus on the development of gogo (variety) rice," he elaborated.
He explained that swamp area optimization is a program to utilize swamp land for agriculture, while gogo rice is a dryland-tolerant crop.
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Translator: M Harianto, Kenzu
Editor: Yuni Arisandy Sinaga
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