"I call on governors, mayors and district heads throughout the country to pay attention to paddy production and to frequently visit farmers in the fields," the president said.Sragen, C Java (ANTARA News) - President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono instructed regional government heads to pay attention to rice production in an effort to increase the resilience of the nation's national food supply.
"I call on governors, mayors and district heads throughout the country to pay attention to paddy production and to frequently visit farmers in the fields," the president said while attending a paddy grand harvest here on Friday.
The president noted that he had received a report from Minister of Agriculture Suswono on the average national rice production, which has reached 5.1 million tons per hectare. Whereas in Sragen, Central Java, one hectare produces between seven and eight tons per hectare.
Food production in Central Java is plentiful and this province constitutes one of the national rice barns.
He said if regional government officials visited farmers in the fields, they would be able to enact correct policies and
solutions.
Further, the president said if all parties in the country focused their attention on increasing food production, Indonesia`s rice production would one day reach eight tons per hectares.
Yudhoyono also said the government would continue to pay attention to farmers in an effort to advance agriculture.
He also said that if farmers` incomes increased, the prosperity of the Indonesian people would also improve. "The majority of our people are farmers," he added.
Therefore, the president hoped that local government, businesses and research bodies would continue to increase communications and discussions with farmers.
The result of such increased communications would assist in rice becoming protected from pests and farmers becoming more efficient in using fertilizers, with an end result being that production could be increased, he said.(*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
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