Agricom.id, JAKARTA - Ministry of Agriculture, Indonesian Republic keeps preparing and being ready to the first planting in 2021. The preparation covers the intervention of qualified seeds which are adjustable with the weather and the control of fertilizer distribution.

Minister of Agriculture, Syahrul Yasin Limpo in his visit to Village of Leworeng, District of Soppeng told that Ministry of Agriculture keeps preparing the planting process within the touch of modern technology to accelerate the production up to 4 times of harvest in a season.

“Today many echelon I officers of Ministry of Agriculture and I go to many special provinces, including South Sulawesi to see our preparation heading to the first planting of 2021. We certainly would intervene the superior seeds based on the weather. We would accelerate the fertilization to get good concentration,” he said, Monday (23/11/2020) as in the official statement to Agricom.id.

Minister Syahrul also thought that the first planting would be successful if every side involved in the agricultural development is in synergy and solid. One thing for sure, he continued, the agriculture should be the same action to strengthen the food security nationally.

“I am in District of Soppeng to see the first planting of 2021 in person. Then I hope that the head of provincial agency and other could unite with the governor and regents to get the faster planting in 2021,” he said.

Ministry of Agriculture keeps promoting kredit usaha rakyat (KUR) as the facility program of the country to develop the agricultural business. The program should be the main pillar to improve the economy nationally to be better.

“We really want that everyone could advantage kredit usaha rakyat which President Joko Widodo launched so that the people really prepare to advantage the facility. KUR in Soppeng would be 164 billion rupiah. One thing for sure, South Sulawesi used more than 3 billion rupiah or the biggest three in Indonesia,” he said.

For information, Ministry of Agriculture Indonesian Republic gave the infrastructure helps to develop the agriculture facilities in District of Soppeng, South Sulawesi for about Rp 24 billion. The help is the long term program of Ministry of Agriculture to accelerate the agricultural production in the planting season of 2021. The helps cover paddy seeds, corn seeds, and other crops. Besides the province gets mechanism tools, such as, tractors as the way of government to welfare the farmers.

General Director of Food Plantation, Ministry of Agriculture, Suwandi said that South Sulawesi has about 654.818 hectares of paddy field within the paddy production reaching 4.682.080 tons of dry grain or equal to 2.686.109 tons of rice. The total paddy harvest covered 979.053 hectares.

"In District of Soppeng the paddy fields covered 28.355 hectares within paddy production reaching 263.265 tons of dry grain or equal to 151.035 tons of rice within the paddy harvest covering 48.575 hectares," he said.

Regent in duty of Soppeng, Idham Kadir Dalle thanked for the helps from Ministry of Agriculture to the district. He thought that Ministry of Agriculture convinced that the district could be the barometer of agriculture in Indonesia.

"Thank you for the helps. We got 100 thousand kilogram of hybrid paddy or for about 4000 hectares; corn seeds, and for other plantations. We also get replanting helps for cocoa and irrigation for the trench, water reservoir. Thank you, sirs,” he said. (A2)