The program is quite realistic and can be implemented.
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto is committed to developing national food sovereignty among others through cultivation of two million hectares of new rice fields to ensure the availability of food.

"The program is quite realistic and can be implemented," Syahganda Nainggolan, director of the Volunteer Success Team of the Prabowo-Hatta presidential and vice presidential pair, said here on Monday.

He said in addition to directly providing jobs for a significant number of workers, the program also had the potential to cause a multiplier effect on the effort to realize the countrys food sovereignty and improve peoples welfare.

Syahganda said the idea to cultivate two million hectares of rice fields was not inseparable from the fact that about 60 percent of the countrys working population depended for their livelihoods on the agricultural sector.

"Even though they are the majority of the people, farmers are still considered as second class people or are even being marginalized," Syahganda said.

This could happen because no attention was paid to the lives of farmers, including their access to capital, because so far they were considered as second class people.

He cited banks data, which revealed that credit for the agricultural sector was not more than 10 percent of the total credit provided by banks.

Many banks rejected channeling credit to the agricultural sector as they believed it was risky.

Syahganda said Prabowos agenda in creating food sovereignty is to design how food production will increase significantly, with growth higher than the population growth every year.

It is also expected to exceed the rate of world demand and the growth of the per capita income or national economic growth.

Therefore, he said Prabowos program in improving the Indonesian peoples welfare, farmers in particular, can be boosted through the development of two million hectares of rice fields, he said.

Indonesia will organize a free and democratic presidential election on July 9, 2014, which will be participated in by only two pairs of presidential and vice presidential candidates: Prabowo Subianto-Hatta Rajasa and Joko Widodo (Jokowi)-Jusuf Kalla.

Prabowo Subianto is a retired military general and the chairman of Gerindra (Great Indonesia Movement) Party, while his running mate, Hatta Rajasa, is a former coordinating minister for economic affairs and the chairman of the National Mandate Party (PAN).

Jokowi is Jakartas Governor and a cadre of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP), and his running mate, Jusuf Kalla (JK), is a former vice president and a senior politician of the Golkar Party.

The Jokowi-JK pair is supported by five political parties: the Indonesia Democratic Party Struggle (PDIP); the Nation Awakening Party (PKB); the Peoples Conscience Party (Hanura); the Justice and Indonesian Unity Party (PKPI); and the National Democrats Party (Nasdem) established by Surya Paloh, owner of Metro TV and the Media Indonesia newspaper.

The Prabowo-Hatta pair is supported by Gerindra; PAN; the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS); the United Development Party (PPP); the Moon and Star Party (PBB); and the Golkar Party, whose current chairman is Aburizal Bakrie, owner of TV One.
(A014/INE/B003)

Editor: Ella Syafputri
Copyright © ANTARA 2014