When the crisis hit the world, the agricultural sector played an important role and became one of the strategic sectors that supported the Indonesian economy. Deputy for Food and Agribusiness at the Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs, Musdhalifah Machmud said she was grateful that agriculture had survived as a bearing for the national economy. "The agricultural sector has always been resilient in critical times. In 2020 Covid, we see that the agricultural sector has been able to survive as an economic cushion. We are grateful because our economic growth has shown quite an impressive figure of 5.72% with a projection of 5.2%. Whereas in 2023 the figure will reach 5.3% ," said Musdhalifah in the 2023 Agricultural National Working Meeting at the Bidakara Hotel Jakarta, Wednesday, January 25, 2023. According to Musdhalifah, Indonesia's agricultural achievements cannot be separated from the performance of the Ministry of Agriculture which prioritizes collaboration with farmers and local governments in realizing agricultural People's Business Credit (KUR) to grow farming businesses throughout Indonesia. "We know that the agricultural sector is currently the highest KUR recipient of around 100 trillion for 2023. The hope is that this will really be able to trigger food availability throughout Indonesia and primarily improve the welfare of our farmers," he said.
Musdhalifah explained that with the KUR, farmers can produce by utilizing optimal, best production inputs, superior seeds, using fertilizers according to needs. "Then the best post-harvest management, so that any added value obtained by our farmers throughout Indonesia can be more optimal," he added. Musdhalifah also explained that the government had succeeded in developing special economic zones to increase connectivity between logistics stakeholders by developing an integration system through a national logistics ecosystem platform. Among them is integrating the flow of goods traffic with ship arrival documents to digitalized e-consumers to collaborate with marketplace logistics. "Our hope is that with these efforts agricultural products can be maximally produced and can be marketed at a reasonable price. The provision of sustainable food in sufficient quantities, affordable prices and good quality will maintain our economic stability in controlling inflation which is a the main scourge of our various food development issues," he said.
