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resident Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono says the next government should continue to put forward policies that support farmers and fishermen.

'€œGovernment policies in this global era should be targeted at protecting farmers and fishermen,'€ he said.

Yudhoyono said issues relating to domestic food and energy supplies would become more urgent as the world population of 7 billion continued to rise to a projected 9 billion in the next 30 years.

'€œThis means we need to increase food and energy production from 60 to 70 percent,'€ Yudhoyono said during the opening of the National Week of Farmers and Fishermen at Kanjuruhan stadium in Malang, East Java, over the weekend.

The weekend event was the 14th National Week of Farmers and Fishermen, which is held every four years.

This year'€™s event was scheduled to take place between June 7 and June 14, involving at least 35,000 people to exchange information, experience, skills and knowledge relating to forestry, agriculture and fisheries.

Agriculture Minister Suswono said in his speech that commodity production had improved in some areas in the last four years.

He said paddy production had showed a stable 2.6 percent annual increase, from 64.4 million tons last year to 71.29 million tons of milled rice this year.

He said that the performance in corn production had also showed an annual increase of 1.4 percent, rising from 17.63 million tons to 18.51 million tons this year.

Suswono said soybean land productivity had increased 1.39 percent, even though the total production decreased because of the diversification to other crops in certain areas.

He also said the production of sugar cane had increased 1.48 percent annually, rising from 17.22 million tons to 19.67 million tons.

The production of beef and chicken had experienced a 7.5 percent annual increase, he added.

The minister, a Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) politician who has been implicated in a number of graft cases, said land conversion, climate change, natural disasters and global economic dynamics were some of the factors that could force people working in the agricultural sector to improve their skills and their knowledge.

'€œWe need to keep innovating,'€ Suswono said.

Meanwhile, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Sharif Cicip Sutardjo also spoke of positive news from the fisheries sector.

Sharif said the market for fish was increasing domestically, with more people consuming fish rather than meat, as shown by the national consumption of 36.5 kilograms of fish per person per year, compared to the national meat consumption of 2.5 kg per person per year.

He said the total fish production had increased, rising from 11.66 million tons in 2010, to 13.65 million tons in 2011, to 15.50 million tons in 2012, to 19.56 million tons in 2013.

The minister said national fish production had reached 6.48 percent of Rp 57.69 trillion in 2010.

He added the fish production growth was above the domestic economic growth of 5.81 percent at that time. (put)