Govt to Design Rice Planting, Harvesting Cycle

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The government will design a cycle for rice planting and harvesting to avoid stocking excessive amounts of rice during simultaneous harvests, President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) stated as reported by Antara News.

"Arranged cycles of planting and harvesting will also increase farmers yield of unhusked rice. If the cycles are not designed, the price will drop when rice is harvested simultaneously and stocks will pile up. So we will frame a cycle for rice planting and harvesting," the president stated while observing a maize plantation in Suku village on Friday afternoon.

The head of state noted that with high productivity, the rice stocks will always be adequate and the country will not need to import the commodity.

"We should strive to increase productivity. For example, one hectare rice field now produces 5 tons of rice. We should find ways to increase the output to 9 to 10 tons, as shown in Demak district. As for the price, it will compete with that of other countries. If rice abroad is cheap, our rice should also be cheap. The key point in this case is increased productivity," Jokowi explained.

He reminded that the competition now was between farmers at home and those abroad, and that the quality and availability of stocks was the key to a nation becoming food self-sufficient.

Therefore, he urged farmers to boost the yield of rice to maintain the availability of food stocks.

"I asked all farmers to be more confident in producing rice and informed them that the government will not import the commodity anymore. So production should rise," Jokowi, said during his working visit to Jetis village, another village in Ponorogo district.

He pointed out that the government has prepared facilities and infrastructure to improve agricultural production, including irrigation systems, tractors, rice-planting machines, combine harvesters and seeds.

"It is now up to you (farmers)," Jokowi remarked.

The president further noted that as many as 41,000 tractors will be distributed to farmers, besides other harvesting tools.

This month, the government will also announce the promised price of unhusked rice that suits market conditions and meets farmers expectations, Jokowi affirmed.

President Jokowi is on a three-day working visit to East Java from Friday to Sunday, accompanied by First Lady Iriana.

The head of state attended the grand harvest at Dukuh Jetis village, where he distributed aid to the local farmers.

Also present at the grand rice harvest were District Head of Ponorogo Amin, Agriculture Minister Amran Sulaiman, State Secretary Pratikno and Governor of East Java Soekarwo.

Ponorogo is one of the districts in East Java that is entering this year's rice harvest season.

ANTARA NEWS