Agricultural Articles

Ministry of Agriculture's TIU in South Sulawesi Cooperates with the Indonesian Army to Increase Production to Achieve Food Self-Sufficiency

21 May 2024

NATC Batangkalu - The Ministry of Agriculture is continuously making efforts to improve agricultural production and restore food self-sufficiency.

This is evidenced by the signing of the collaboration on Swampland Optimization between the Minister of Agriculture and the Chief of Army (COA).

Minister of Agriculture Amran Sulaiman emphasized that with the collaboration between the Ministry of Agriculture and the Indonesian Army, the food self-sufficiency of Indonesia is optimistic to be achieved soon. The reason is, this collaboration not only increases production on raw rice fields, but also optimizes the dormant fields, especially mineral swamps which have the potential to be used as agricultural fields covering an area of 10 million hectares.

“Ministry of Agriculture together with the Indonesian Army will conduct the pumping of river water and reservoirs in Java and outside Java as a step to optimize the use of swamp land, in order to increase Indonesia's agricultural productivity, which is under threat due to El Nino, which is categorized as Gorilla El Nino,” he said.

Responding to the Minister of Agriculture's presentation, the Chief of Army, Maruli Simanjuntak expressed his appreciation to the Ministry of Agriculture which has provided a lot of support for the Army, especially regarding fertilizers, irrigation, and agricultural tools and machinery. He also ensured that all Army soldiers would support the Government's programs, especially in the food sector.

“All the Army personnel are going to the field to review their respective areas to support the Government's program (Ministry of Agriculture) in facing the most food security threats,” concluded COA Maruli.

Meanwhile, the Head of ACHRDA of the Ministry of Agriculture, Dedi Nursyamsi, said that the agricultural sector is the most important sector for the present and the future. The food crisis continues to be a challenge and even a threat, due to climate change and the uncertainty of social, economic, and political conditions.

“One of the economic shocks caused by the Russian-Ukrainian conflict has an impact on Indonesia's agricultural productivity, especially in the availability of fertilizers. But the bigger impact that we are currently experiencing is the El Nino natural phenomenon,” he said.

Dedi added that the specific strategies were adjustment of patterns and planting time, water management and utilization of alternative water resources, saving and protection as well as empowerment of farmers. ACHRDA realizes that the success of the efforts to overcome the impact of El Nino and other climate changes requires the participation of the farmers and the regional government.

To follow up the collaboration agreement between Ministry of Agriculture and the Army, ACHRDA through the National Agricultural Training Center of Batangkaluku has been coordinating with Military District Commands in several regencies, Wednesday (20/3).

The Head of NATC Batangkaluku through the Substantial Group Leader, Sugeng Mulyono, said that NATC Batangkaluku has been responsible for this activity in 4 regencies, namely Takalar Regency, Gowa Regency, Wajo Regency, and Luwu Regency.

“Army personnel from the Military District Commands at the regency have been fully prepared to support this activity. The proposal for pumping must be aligned with the needs of the farmers, both in terms of size and operational availability of the pump,” he said.

In the meantime, Widyaiswara BBPP Batangkaluku, Jamaluddin Al Afgani explained that the coordination was to follow up on the pumping program for the expansion of planting areas.

“In addition to visiting the Military District Commands Headquarter, his party together with Military District Commands personnel, River Basin Organization of the Ministry of Public Works and Housing, and the local Agriculture Office also verified the CPCL for pumping, such as surveying water sources close to the planting area,” he concluded.

Previously, coordination had also been carried out with the Regional Agriculture Department to request data on the expansion of planting areas. It has been obtained that the land area in Takalar Regency is 2277.49 hectares, Gowa Regency is 350.43 hectares, Wajo Regency is 8665.21 hectares, and Luwu Regency is 4891.01 hectares.

(Red/*)
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