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Modern agriculture development boosts production of 11 commodities: Minister
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Farmers harvest corn in Kretek farming fields in Bantul, Yogyakarta, on Oct.17. (Antara/Hendra Nurdiyansyah)
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griculture Minister Amran Sulaiman has claimed the development of modern agriculture techniques and human resources, the two main priorities in Indonesia’s agriculture program, have managed to boost the country’s agriculture production during President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo’s first two years in office.
He said 11 out of 12 strategic commodities saw an increase in yield and only soybean had experienced a production decline due to weather-related problems.
Corn production rose by 21.8 percent, followed by rice (11.7 percent), onions (3.76 percent) and chilies (1.81 percent), while soy bean production declined by 7.2 percent, according to the ministry.
"We are no longer importing rice and onions. We even export onions now. What the government has promised to its citizens is that we will be able to be self-sufficient in four strategic commodities, chilies, onions, rice and corn," Amran said in Jakarta on Friday.
As of today, the minister said the government had achieved its irrigation rehabilitation target of 3.2 million hectares and built 1,235 reservoirs. The government also had provided 180,000 units of agriculture machinery, which consisted of tractors, water pumps, combine harvesters and rice transplanters, he added.
Amran further explained the government had also distributed a Rp 58.6 trillion (US$4.49 billion) fertilizer subsidy and 527 organic fertilizer processing units. It had created 123,000 ha of new fields and optimized farming in 945,000 ha of areas. The government had also granted agriculture insurance to protect 373,000 ha of land from crop failure risks. (ebf)
