President Jokowi conveyed this statement at the research center inauguration event here on Wednesday, as monitored via the live broadcast of the Presidential Secretariat YouTube Channel from here.
"I laud the opening of this Agricultural Genomics Research Center so that our (agriculture) production per hectare, be it benzoin, coffee, rice, potatoes, shallots, and garlic, can increase," he remarked.
According to Jokowi, agricultural production is expected to increase due to a quality research center in Humbang Hasundutan.
He further explained that climate change is becoming very real, with the impacts felt in the form of rising temperatures and declining world food production.
"It is currently hard to predict and calculate because of uncertain weather dynamics, such as the heat lasts for months or the rain lasts for months. This results in a decline in food production in all countries. The world fears a food crisis," he remarked.
He also pointed out that research on food and horticulture in Indonesia still lags behind other countries. This is apparent from the national coffee production which only reaches two to 2.3 tons per hectare, while the figure touches eight to nine tons per hectare in other countries.
"This means that our seeds are inferior to theirs," he pointed out.
To this end, he called on all relevant stakeholders to establish cooperation with any party or country to obtain superior seeds, so that the productivity of the nation's agricultural lands can improve.
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Translator: Rangga J, Kenzu
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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