The Ministry of Agriculture (Kementan) continues to support the implementation of sustainable agriculture through the use of organic materials through demonstration plots, trials and research. Biosaka is made from grass mixed with water and then crushed, after which it can be applied directly to the land for all types of plants. Thoroughly reviewing this natural biosaka, the Ministry of Agriculture held a Propaktani Technical Guidance Webinar (Bimtek) for Biosaka production as well as a demonstration plot at the Center for Forecasting Plant Destruction Organisms (BBPOPT), Jatisari, Karawang, Saturday (11/6). Present at this Bimtek Minister of Agriculture (Mentan) Syahrul Yasin Limpo, Director General of Food Crops Suwandi, Prof. Robert Manurung, Prof. Iswandi Anas, Muhamad Ansar, the initiator of Biosaka and Dr Rachmat from the Cereals Directorate, provided experiences and explanations from the scientific aspect of what Biosaka is. The Minister of Agriculture appreciates and welcomes this Biosaka innovation for a better and sustainable future of agriculture. He emphasized that his party must continue to oversee and resolve agricultural problems, including supporting new innovations that can increase production and improve farmers' welfare. "I thank you for the involvement of many parties. We need a common hand, because agriculture cannot run alone. And the fertilizer problem is one of the problems that we must solve together," said the Minister of Agriculture, as quoted from a written statement received Saturday night (11/6). Director General of Food Crops, Suwandi, added that the use of organic materials has many benefits, namely it can reduce production costs, reduce pests and diseases so that the harvest is better, the soil becomes more fertile, the price of the harvest is good, and it makes farmers get big profits. With the increasingly expensive world fertilizer prices, we must look for alternatives and solutions to cut food production costs.

"Nowadays it is a momentum for farmers to switch to products that are available in nature, cheap and can be made by themselves such as compost, liquid organic fertilizer, vermicompost (used worms), Biosaka, and other innovations. Of course this must be proven and followed up scientifically, so it is necessary to carry out a demonstration plot like what is being carried out at BBPOPT Jatisari Biosaka demonstration plot which is escorted by experts and academics," he explained. He explained in the areas as well as farmers, farmer groups, extension workers, what's wrong with trying. This is important so that you can see firsthand the impact and the results can be proven for yourself. "We will see the effectiveness of the use of Biosaka later the community can judge for themselves," he said. Meanwhile, Prof. Robert Manurung from the School of Biological Science and Technology, Bandung Institute of Technology (IPB) said Biosaka is not a fertilizer, but an Elisitor. Elicitor plant is a plant that contains chemical compounds that can trigger physiological responses, morphology and accumulation of phytoalexins, increasing activation and expression of genes related to the biosynthesis of secondary metabolites. "The elicitor can induce plant resistance. The elicitor basically gives a signal to the plant and the plant reacts in its body so that it can produce great cells and hormones that are good for growth," he said. Meanwhile, Prof. Iswandi Anas, Professor of IPB explained that plants can grow healthy, strong, high production, vigor / strong, resistant to pests and diseases only on healthy soil. Healthy soil has good chemical, physical and biological properties and no toxic compounds. "We still have to fight together so that a sustainable agricultural system in Indonesia can be realized. Technologically sustainable agriculture can be implemented, economically profitable, socially acceptable to the community and without causing environmental damage. The step that must be taken is to use organic and biological fertilizers, reduce the dose of chemical fertilizers / pesticides wisely and ecofarming," he explained.

Furthermore, Prof. Iswandi said that the main fertilizer is organic fertilizer, while the synthetic fertilizer is additional fertilizer. Organic fertilizers can improve almost all soil properties (physical, chemical, biological soil), contain all the essential pest elements 13/16, can be made by farmers on site and reduce farmers' dependence on chemical fertilizers. "What is lacking in organic fertilizer is NPK, which can be added as an important complement," he said. Rachmat from the Cereals Directorate of the Ministry of Agriculture explained that Biosaka is made from natural ingredients obtained from healthy plants around. Cultivation of rice and soybeans has shown very promising results in plant resistance to stress and increased productivity of rice and soybean fields. He added that the use of biosaka as an elicitor material in Indonesia is relatively new and still needs to be tested and developed in the future in various regions with different land conditions and characteristics. One of the potential and promising uses of biosaka is in handling plant cultivation stress on land with low pH and high salinity. “This item (biosaka) can only be made by yourself, it's free, the ingredients are from nature and we use it for nature. So it is not traded and no one is selling it either. Biosaka hopes to become a mass movement for farmers how we can save nature, return to nature and utilize natural materials for sustainability and sustainability," explained Rachmat. Muhammad Anshar as the initiator of Biosaka said that the products come from grasses, weeds or any plants that are around rice fields or fields as long as they are in healthy condition. The process of making Biosaka must be manually (kneaded) cannot use tools such as blenders or the like. "I believe that the Biosaka made can eliminate farmers' dependence on subsidized fertilizers (chemicals) and it has been proven that production costs save around 3 million," he said. It should be noted, in BTS Propaktani, the participants were taught directly by Anshar how to choose leaves and grass to make Biosaka. They were enthusiastic and immediately put into practice how to mix, squeeze and see the quality of each biosaka product they made. Many were curious to try, some farmers, field assignments succeeded in putting it into practice. For the selection of grass for making Biosaka, you must use healthy grass that is not mixed with chemicals and it must be known that the growth period of the grass is in the vegetative or generative phase.

Source: https://investor.id/national/296523/kementan-dukung-pertanian-berkelanjutan-lewat-bahan-alami