The Ministry of Agriculture noted that during 2021 agricultural sector production continued to grow amidst the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. Minister of Agriculture (Mentan) Syahrul Yasin Limpo said this growth was seen from the growth of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the agricultural sector which had consistently grown positively since 2020 and was sustainable until 2021. "The agricultural sector has made a positive contribution to national economic growth even amid the Covid-19 pandemic. The formulation of strategies and activity programs amid a pandemic has had an impact on the GDP growth of the agricultural sector which has consistently grown positively since 2020 and is sustainable until 2021," said Minister of Agriculture Syahrul in a joint working meeting with Commission IV DPR RI, Monday (24/1/2022). The Minister of Agriculture explained, GDP growth according to business fields in the agricultural sector grew 16.24 percent in the second quarter of 2020 when other sectors grew negatively affected by the impact of the pandemic. Then in the first quarter of 2021, the agricultural sector contributed 2.95 percent to national economic growth. "In the first quarter of 2021, the GDP of the agricultural sector will grow 2.95 percent year on year. In the third quarter of 2021 it will also grow 1.31 percent compared to 2020," said the Minister of Agriculture. The Minister of Agriculture also said that agricultural exports also experienced a similar situation where the cumulative export value for the January-December 2021 period reached Rp. 625.04 trillion, an increase of 38.608 percent compared to 2020 which was valued at Rp. 451.77 trillion.
Main commodities of agricultural sector 2021
In more detail, the Minister of Agriculture, SYL, explained that there was an increase in the production of the main commodities of the agricultural sector in 2021, namely rice production in 2021 reaching 55.27 tons of dry milled grain (GKG) or an increase of 1.13 percent compared to 2020 which was 54.65 million tons GKG. Then corn production reached 23.04 million tons, up 0.52 percent compared to last year, shallot production reached 1.93 million tons, up 6.63 percent. "Cacao production was recorded at 750,000 tons, an increase of 1.25 percent, coffee 775,000 tons, an increase of 1.71 percent, cane sugar production 2.42 million tons, an increase of 13.602 percent, and chicken meat 3.42 million tons, an increase of 6.5 percent. percent," said SYL. However, he did not deny the decline in production in several commodities such as chili, coconut, beef, and buffalo meat. "However, this decrease is not significant," said the Minister of Agriculture.
