Agricom.id, JAKARTA – The data improvement done by ministry of agriculture by operating the Agriculture War Room (AWR) was appreciated and welcome by Institut Agroekologi Indonesia (INAgri). INAgri thought that AWR is the place for modern agriculture devices because it could reach the data nationally well, in valid, and accurately.

“This is the best breakthrough because for all these years, we have issues with data, such as, the width of paddy fields, the fertilizer distribution, the width of harvest, where the harvests take place, and the distribution. AWR could be the hope and solution for the farmers to make strategic decision in valid data – base,” Board of Supervisor of INAgri, Achmad Yakub said, Wednesday (13/5/2020) as in the official written statement to Agricom.id.

He thought that it is not the serious issue for the ministry of agriculture to send data and information about the agriculture which have become the debates. The capability in AWR makes it the challenge of agriculture to trigger the production progress nationally.

“By the data, there would be no issue about the farmers’ production. On the other hand, the government could know, when to export, when to import, where the harvest takes place, the production, the surplus regions, the deficit regions, and the good distribution,” he said.

Besides, the program of ministry of agriculture to provide the food through pasar murah berbasis mitra tani which runs in many regions in Indonesia would influence the price stability which may be the loss for the farmers and consumers.

“The innovation indirectly has something to do with AWR and other strategic programs. The first is, there would be good production; the second is, the worth price; the third is, the better farmers; and the last is, the farmers and the consumers would always be happy,” Yakub said.

But he also reminded that the government should always be aware of what Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) warned about the food crisis in the world because of corona virus (Covid-19) pandemic.

“One thing to do is that do not let the people’s capability of buying decrease. This needs anticipation by maintaining the food centers in Java, Sulawesi, Kalimantan, and other islands which have food potential,” he said. (A2)