Indonesia's success in achieving rice self-sufficiency for three consecutive years has been rewarded with awards from the International Institute for Rice Research, the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI). This award from IRRI was received directly by President Joko Widodo at the Presidential Palace in Jakarta. IRRI assesses that Indonesia has achieved self-sufficiency because it is able to meet domestic basic food needs, in this case more than 90% of rice. It is known, national rice production from 2019 has consistently been at 31.3 million tons, so based on BPS calculations, the final stock in April 2022 is the highest at 10.2 million tons. "And if asked where the goods are? Yes, in the community, in farmers, in restaurants and also at Bulog. Plus some in the food industries. This is why Indonesia is considered to have a good food security system and has achieved self-sufficiency in food," said the President, Sunday, August 14, 2022. The President said, amid the threat of a food crisis at the global level, the Indonesian government is committed to increasing national production and ensuring food sufficiency in the country as well as contributing to international food conditions. "A big thank you to the perpetrators and working in the fields, the Indonesian farmers for their hard work, of course the Regent, governors and the ranks of the Ministry of Agriculture (Kementan) who are all collaborating with research from universities that we have. is an integrated work and mutual cooperation work," he said. The President explained that one of the infrastructures that Indonesia has built since 2015 is infrastructure in the agricultural sector. It is noted that there are 29 dams that have been inaugurated and this year 38 dams will be completed again with a target by 2024 of more than 61 dams. "We have also built reservoirs and 4,500 irrigation networks that were built over the last 7 years, as well as we continue to use high-yielding rice varieties, intensification and extensification. We hope that in the future, not only rice will be self-sufficient, but corn and others," he said. The President added that the diversification program can also be well optimized to meet national food needs. Currently, Indonesia continues to plant sorghum as a substitute for wheat. "Diversify food carefully, we don't only depend on rice but we have to start also for other types of food. We started yesterday in Waingapu sorghum, then in several provinces corn is also large, which used to have to import 3.5 million tons today, we only import about 800 thousand tons. This is a very big leap and we hope that we will continue to concentrate on it," he explained.
Monday, 15 August 2022 08:27
IRRI Award Becomes Evidence of the International World Acknowledging Indonesia's Success in Rice Self-Sufficiency
