Agricom.id, JAKARTA - Minister of Agriculture, Syahrul Yasin Limpo (SYL) emphasized that the food needs during the fasting days, Idul Fitri and in the corona virus  (Covid-19) pandemic are well prepared. This has been proved by no food crisis and the stable price in the markets.

“To strengthen the procurement and price stability, we have made and developed pasar tani or toko tani to cut off the supply chain. We also encouraged the people to expand the food choices by food diversification,” SYL told when attending the meeting with Commission IV, Indonesian Legislators, Monday (22/6/2020), as in the official statement to Agricom.id.

Besides he continued, his side is doing the best to increase the export values to strengthen the economy nationally which get decreasing by the Covid-19.

For information, the agriculture product export values in April 2020 increased 12,66 percent. The numbers were got when other sectors were decreasing to export.

He also mentioned that the other achievement was the numbers of rice production in the first planting of 2020. The increasing production reached 16,65 million ton; and the stocks in the end of June 2020 that might be 7,49 million ton.

"To maintain the stocks of rice by December 2020, ministry of agriculture has accelerated the paddy planting in the second planting of 2020 that would cover 5,6 million hectares by mobilizing every resource component within the support of enough water in the production centers and other regions,” he said.

He is optimist that the real work could get the targets within the limited budget. He continued that the target would always be encouraged by involving the farmers to advantage kredit usaha rakyat (KUR).

"We would also mobilize every available resource to cover the lack of budget in the Country Budget. We are also in cooperation with other ministries and institutions to support the agriculture development, mobilize every businessman to implement the programs of agriculture, and take the private and enterprises to secure the procurement and distribution of the strategic food,” he explained.

For information, the budget in ministry of agriculture in 2020 was about Rp 21,055 billion. But the numbers got decreasing to be Rp 14,049 billion. Ministry of agriculture needs enough budgets to realize the programs which had been prepared. (A2)