"We need pumping to supply water from rivers to rice fields. Why? Because it is impossible for us to escape a food crisis if we do not take this quick solution," he explained here on Thursday.
He stressed that anticipatory measures must not be taken late to prevent social conflicts that may occur due to failure to provide sufficient food for the community.
"Remember, there are 50 countries that are experiencing hunger. We must not experience the same thing," he said.
Sulaiman noted that the government is targeting to achieve food self-sufficiency and provision targets as soon as possible. For this reason, the focus of the work being carried out is installing pumps, creating rice fields, and transforming traditional farming into modern agriculture.
At present, he said, farmers do not need to worry because agriculture continues to be the focus of President Joko Widodo and President-elect Prabowo Subianto.
Some of the measures taken to support agricultural productivity have included increasing fertilizer allocation by up to 100 percent as well as involving the Indonesian Military (TNI) in installing pumps.
He noted that the government is currently focusing on making efforts to boost rice and corn production.
The minister affirmed that the government is building modern agriculture, for instance, through the utilization of drones, combine harvesters, as well as other advanced machines, in a bid to attract the youth to farming.
"We are building modern agriculture with the aim of reducing production costs by up to 50 percent...we will build 10 thousand hectares in West Java, 10 thousand in Central Java, and so on," he informed.
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Translator: Muhammad Harianto, Raka Adji
Editor: Azis Kurmala
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