Agricultural Articles

Ministry of Agriculture and Gowa Regency Government Synergized to Increase Rice Production

21 May 2024

Parangloe, Gowa - Strengthening the Expansion of Planted Areas (EPA) for paddy rice is the government's effort to increase the planting index and productivity of rice nationwide with a target of two hectares of dry paddy fields by the year 2024. This is to strengthen food resiliency independently without having to rely on import policies.

This was revealed by the Minister of Agriculture, Andi Amran Sulaiman during the coordination meeting and signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and the Agreement of Collaboration (AoC) between the Ministry of Agriculture and the Indonesian Army at the Ministry of Agriculture Office, Jakarta, Friday, March 8, 2024.

Meanwhile, the Head of ACHRDA of the Ministry of Agriculture, Dedi Nursyamsi, said that the agricultural sector is the most important sector currently and in 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 them is the economic shock caused by the Russia-Ukraine conflict, which has an impact on Indonesia's agricultural productivity, especially the availability of fertilizers. But the bigger impact that we are currently experiencing is the existence of the El Nino natural phenomenon,” he said.

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

To support the EPA program, the Ministry of Agriculture together with the Government of Gowa Regency carried out the Initial Planting of PI-0 Fields for the Expansion of Planted Areas (EPA) Program, in Belabori Village, Parangloe District, Gowa Regency, Thursday (2/5/2024).

Through these activities, it is expected that a lot of dry land which has water sources can be utilized through pumping so that there is an increase in rice production.

This was revealed by the Secretary of the Directorate General of Horticulture of the Ministry of Agriculture, Muhammad Taufiq Ratule in his speech.

"The impact of last year's El Nino was not only on that year, but it also had an impact several years later, especially in the agricultural sector," he said.

Muhammad Taufiq added that there was a decrease in production due to El Nino, which affected the planting period, so the harvest time was also delayed.

"The potential production of this year compared to the last year will tend to be lower, therefore we (the Ministry of Agriculture) are pursuing the increasing production target through the EPA program," he explained.

He explained that to anticipate the production deficiency, additional planting is needed outside of the regular planting, so currently 3 programs are being created for the expansion of planted areas throughout Indonesia with a total of 2 million hectares.

"The programs are namely, the first is the Optimization of Swamp Lands with a target of 400 thousand hectares at nationwide level, while in South Sulawesi Province there are 4 districts, namely Pinrang Regency, Sidenreng Rappang Regency (commonly referred to as Sidrap Regency), Wajo Regency, and Bone Regency. The total is 13 thousand hectares. The second is Pumping with a target of 1 million hectares at nationwide level, while in South Sulawesi Province all districts have a target of 93 thousand hectares. And the third program is the Upland Rice with 600 thousand hectares at nationwide level and the target in Gowa Regency is 200 hectares," he detailed.

Meanwhile, the Head of the Department of Food Crops, Horticulture and Plantations of Gowa Regency, Muhammad Fajaruddin, said that the EPA in Gowa Regency has reached approximately 1,000 hectares, and will be developed according to the target given.

"After visiting several districts, we found that there are still some planting areas that we need to increase its productivity," he said.

He believes that through the EPA program, what the Ministry of Agriculture had done has been beneficial for Gowa Regency, and through the support and assistance provided by the National Government through the Ministry of Agriculture, it should be able to increase productivity.

"Gowa is a regency that supports food in the southern area and its productivity continues to increase. The first support is rice production, productivity has been increasing every year. In 2022 it was approximately 415 thousand tons, in 2023 it became 419 thousand tons," he explained.

Other than rice, there is also the corn crop, with production in 2022 at 350 thousand tons, which increases to 370 thousand tons in 2023. The two (2) commodities are supporting the food security in Gowa.

"The agricultural sector contributed 29.35% to economic growth, the largest. Especially for food crops and horticulture, we get a contribution of 21.21%. This is what made Gowa succeed in winning the first place in the regional development assessment at the South Sulawesi Province level," he said during his speech.

In this activity, the Secretary of the Directorate General of Horticulture, together with the Regional Secretary of Gowa Regency represented by the Third Assistant for General Administration and the officers of BBPP Batangkaluku along with other invited guests planted rice together as a form of support for the EPA program.

(Red/*)
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