"We have not had good quality seeds and new varieties, such as sugarcane (varieties), for a long time, so we want to invite universities to conduct studies," Hasan stated at the East Java Province food sector limited coordination meeting held here on Tuesday.
Hasan said that universities can conduct research by collaborating with the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) to create new food crop varieties.
In addition, he called on State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) to allocate their corporate social responsibility (CSR) funds to support research aimed at developing new varieties of food plants.
"If there is a shortage in costs (for conducting research), the SOEs have the CSR funds,“ he remarked.
Hasan stated that universities can also conduct research on crops grown on smallholder plantations, such as coffee, coconuts, chocolate, cloves, and pepper, as they have a higher farmers' exchange rate than rice.
He believes that the outcomes of such research will significantly boost Indonesia's agricultural productivity.
Currently, he highlighted that Indonesia's agricultural yield stands at just 5.29 tons per hectare, which remains below that of Vietnam at 6.1 tons per hectare and China at 6.5 tons per hectare.
Furthermore, he underscored the pressing need for high-quality, pest-resistant rice seeds to be provided in the country.
Consequently, he stated that there is a requirement to renew rice seed varieties every seven to eight years in order to sustain rice productivity.
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Translator: Astrid H, Kenzu
Editor: Azis Kurmala
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