Jokowi urges Gorontalo to address poverty

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has called on the Gorontalo provincial administration to pay serious attention to the development of its agriculture, fisheries and forestry sectors to decrease the region’s poverty rate.

Jokowi noted that Gorontalo’s economic growth reached 6.52 percent last year, surpassing the national rate, but poverty remained staggeringly high.

“While the growth rate is pretty high, it is still not enough as the data shows that the poverty rate is still 17.63 percent — much higher than the national percentage,” the President said in his opening speech of the Cabinet meeting on Tuesday.

“In order to lower the poverty rate, we need to focus on developing the agriculture, fisheries and forestry sectors, which do not only function as the engine for Gorontalo’s economic growth, but also contribute significantly to employment.”

Jokowi also noted that Gorontalo was the production center of several significant commodities, such as rice, corn, coconuts, cacao and palm sugar.

The President also underlined the importance of further developing manufacturing industries to help increase added value of the agricultural and fishery sectors, and supporting infrastructure for better transportation, logistics, as well as better energy and water supplies. (bbn)