Agricultural infrastructure development to continue: President

President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) gave an assurance here on Saturday that the development of agricultural infrastructure, such as dams, reservoirs, secondary, and tertiary irrigation networks in the country, would continue to assure water supply for farming.

"Water is key to farming. Farming is not possible without water," he said, while opening the 15th National Week of Farmers and Fishermen in Harapan Bangsa stadium in Gampong Lhong Raya, Banda Aceh.

Jokowi stated that according to the head of press, media and information bureau of the Presidential Secretariat, Bey Machmudin, 49 big dams, spreading from Sabang (Sumatra) to Merauke (Papua in the east), were currently being built by the government.

"There are many dams, but they are mostly in East Nusa Tenggara that needs water the most," the president noted.

He also added that he has ordered the minister of agriculture and the minister of village and backward region development and transmigration to build small water reservoirs. 

"Our target is to complete 30 thousand reservoirs this year," he remarked.

The government has also pledged to complete the development of secondary and tertiary irrigation networks this year as had been promised by minister of agriculture Amran Sulaiman three years ago.

"The minister of agriculture said it has covered three million hectares. I have not counted but the minister has. Hence, it should not be lesser than that," Jokowi stated.

He appealed to the provincial governors, city mayors, and district heads to start finding crops that sell well. "We must not focus only on certain crops," he revealed.

For example, cacao and coffee are commodities that sell well. "With regard to cacao, domestic demand is high, but supply is still short. The price of coffee also keeps increasing," he pointed out.

Recounting his experience during his stay in Aceh years ago, Jokowi stressed that he enjoyed drinking "Gayo" coffee (local coffee) almost every morning. "Gayo coffee tastes very good," he exclaimed.

However, he also believed that coffee in other regions in the country also are very special and have a good price. "Therefore, we have to cultivate them or rejuvenate them," he reiterated.

Another commodity that the president mentioned was cashew nut. "Cashew nuts also sell well, and we should cultivate them," he added.

At the opening of his speech, Jokowi expressed his happiness to be able to meet farmers and fishermen. "I have indeed been looking forward to this event to meet you all," he stated.

He said that during childhood he has often heard people saying that it was only because of the hard work of farmers that we get food and only because of fishermen's efforts we get fish.

"Therefore, we must love our farmers and fishermen," he said.

Regarding the price of corn, Jokowi said he could not forget the anger and complaints by farmers regarding the high price of corn, which was at between Rp1.5 thousand to Rp1.7 thousand per kilogram then.

"We made a big loss. The prices dropped only because our imports were big," he said, quoting the farmers.

Corn imports had reached 3.6 million tons then. He then ordered the minister of agriculture to stop corn imports for five years.

Two years later, the government then issued a Presidential Instruction to set the price of corn at Rp2.7 thousand per kilogram. He confirmed the price with the minister of agriculture.

Following the instructions, farmers were encouraged to grow corn, and by the end of 2016, corn imports had dropped to only 900 thousand tons.

"This is the result of farmers hard work. The price has gone up. We hope this year there will be no corn imports as they have now been recorded at only 900 thousand tons after reaching 3.6 million tons. God willing, this year, there will be no more imports as we have been able to meet domestic demands," he explained.

On the occasion, Jokowi invited some farmers and fishermen to the podium to share their experiences as well as inputs to the government. Afterwards, the president awarded them bicycles.

Jokowi was accompanied by First Lady Iriana, Agriculture Minister Amran Sulaiman, Presidential Chief of Staff Teten Masduki, and Aceh Governor Zaini Abdullah. (*)

Source: ANTARA