Jokowi Promises Indonesia to Achieve Food Self-Sufficiency
27 December 2014 11:04 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo promised that he would provide anything necessary to achieve food self-sufficiency.
“A request of 69,000 tractors has been met. We will allocate a budget for fertilizers and seeds. I will provide everything,” Jokowi said after granting an award in food at the Rice Crop Research Center, Subang, West Java, on Friday, December 26, 2014.
According to Jokowi, Indonesia must be able to achieve food self-sufficency within three years. Jokowi said that he was frustrated because Indonesia is still in need of rice imports. Jokowi was also embarrassed when the Vietnamese President at the Summit in China asked him to import rice from Vietnam.
Therefore, Jokowi summoned Agriculture Minister Amran Sulaiman after the summit. He asserted that Indonesia must be able to attain food self-sufficiency in the near future.
“I don’t want to hear such a question from my colleagues, wheither presidents or prime ministers,” Jokowi said.
PRIHANDOKO
