After a meeting on food self-sufficiency here on Monday, Sulaiman said the cooperation is aimed at encouraging research on increasing food commodity productivity, which will be carried out by universities.
"Agricultural commodities whose productivity is low will be studied. Universities will form teams to study it continuously," he informed.
According to the minister, later, each appointed university will have its own research focus.
For instance, IPB University will be asked to focus its research on rice commodities, Hasanuddin University (Unhas) on corn, and Gadjah Mada University (UGM) on soybeans.
Regarding the research budget, he said that it will come from the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Higher Education, Science, and Technology, and each university.
Meanwhile, Minister Yuliarto said that universities are the spearhead of agricultural commodity development and could help Indonesia achieve its food self-sufficiency goal.
He added that his ministry is responsible for producing reliable human resources who can support the advancement of technology in the agricultural sector.
According to the minister, the development of research in the agricultural sector is important, considering that compared to other countries such as the Netherlands, Germany, and the United States (US), the productivity of several food commodities in Indonesia is still low.
"For instance, potatoes, it (the productivity) is 20 tons per hectare (in Indonesia). If we compare it to other countries such as the Netherlands, the land is small but it reaches 40 tons per hectare," he expounded.
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Translator: Ahmad Muzdaffar, Raka Adji
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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