TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Aceh Government is targeting for 2.7 million tons of paddy production in 2016. The message was conveyed by Vice Governor of Aceh Muzakir Manaf in a seminar held in Malikussaleh University, Tuesday, February 23, 2016.

According to Muzakir, Aceh Government is focusing on three plants, namely paddy, soybean and maize. In 2016, apart from paddy, Aceh Government is also targeting 131 thousand tons of soybean and 237 thousand tons of maize productions.

Based on last year’s data, paddy production in Aceh is around 2.32 million tons, almost reached the 2015 production target of 2.4 tons.

According to Muzakir, production target is more likely to be achieved with a hope that Village Law could strengthen Aceh’s agricultural sector.

“With the support of village fund, we could develop a wide range of agricultural potentials in villages to improve agricultural sector,” he said.

To develop crop productivity, Aceh Government has encouraged villagers to improve their agricultural activities through village program as mandated by Law No. 6/2015 on Villages. Aceh Government also hopes for agricultural sector to absorb greater number of workforce.

In the seminar, Dr. Iskandar, an academician, explained that the main problem faced by farmers lies at the downstream, i.e. poor marketing. Farmers are unable to sell their agricultural products with suitable prices. In fact, market prices drop as they enter harvest period.

“Students must be able to address the problem by creating effective marketing mechanisms to maximize agricultural products marketing,” Iskandar said.

ADI WARSIDI