Agricom.id, BANJARNEGARA - Ministry of agriculture and District of Banjarnegara focused to develop cassava diversification through the corporate system.

Regent of Banjarnegara, Budhi Sarwono and Director of Beans and Bulbs, Ministry of Agriculture, Amirudin Pohan attended the event of Pengembangan Ubi Kayu dan Peluang Pengembangan dalam bentuk Korporasi in the hall of District of Pandopo District of Banjarnegara, Tuesday (23/6/2020).

Budhi Sarwono suggested and took the cassava farmers to develop and expand their plantation through the corporates that ministry of agriculture runs. The district lays on 106.970 hectares and most of the areas are very potential to develop cassava.

“The programs of ministry of agriculture would give new hopes for the cassava farmers in Banjarnegara. I do believe, by the good price, they would plant cassava,” he said, as in the official written statement to Agricom.id recently.

Knowing this, Head of Agriculture Agency, District of Banjarnegara, Totok Setya Winarna said that in 2015 cassava started to get better up to Rp 2.000 per kilogram (kg).  But in 2017- 2018 it was cheaper up to Rp 300 per kg. "Alhamdulillah in 2019 – 2020, it gets better again to be Rp 1.200 per kilogram,” he said.

Meanwhile the total cassava areas in the district lay about 13 thousand hectares, while the planting in this year reached 6.000 hectares. The local variety lanting is the primadona for having high productivity reaching 40 tons per hectares.  "The harvest peak would be in June – July 2021," he mentioned.

Director of Beans and Bulbs, Amirudin Pohan explained that the cassava development with the corporate is one program that Minister of Agriculture, Syahrul Yasin Limpo (SYL) proposed and runs as the food diversification in the corona virus (Covid-19) pandemic. Some local commodities should be developed, such as, cassava, yam, and other.

“Cassava should get more attention for having the good prospect. It is easy to cultivate, it does not need specific areas, and could be planted in the house yards. Let us advantage our yard, such as, planting cassava,” he said.

He also suggested the local farmers to increase its productivity, such as, by planting the superior variety and the fertilization. If the productivity of cassava in Banjarnegara might be 20-30 tons per hectare, it could be increased more.

“Just like Minister SYL told, the local food should be the alternative and should be specially noticed. Advantage the areas, develop the local food, starting from the house to maintain the food security,” Pohan said.

“In 2021 the cassava would be developed in the 35.000 hectares. It is hoped that District of Banjarnegara could proposed the plans to develop it,” he said.

In the other spot, General Director of Food Plantation,  Ministry of Agriculture, Suwandi told that it is undeniable that there are challenges to develop cassava, such as, certified seeds, the price, the age of plantation, the productivity to increase, and the post-harvest management. But he is optimist that cassava could be the primadona if it is well cultivated.

“The future of food in Indonesia would depend of the work in agriculture. Ministry of agriculture has planned the general targets,” he said.

He continued that his side now focuses to four aspects to realize the targets. The first is to increase the productivity and production of agriculture, and increase the quality of human resources. The second is to decrease the cost by increasing the efficiency and regional development in corporate – base. The third is to develop and implement the mechanism and accelerate the innovation and technology advantages.

“The fourth is to do agriculture expansion by expanding the area advantage, including the swamp, and other sub-optimal areas, and providing the water (irrigation and reservoir),” he said. (A2)