TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) invited eleven economists to the Presidential Palace in Jakarta to discuss the country`s pressing issues regarding food supply.

“The eleven economists are mainly from the field of agriculture and fisheries. We were invited by the President to discuss the two elements related to each other,” said Bayu Krisnamurthi, Bogor Agricultural University (IPB) Economist after the meeting had ended today, Feb. 27.

The two elements Bayu talked about is related to food supply issues and its effect on poverty.

Bayu explained that based on the analysis of poverty announced by the government in January showed that the stability of food prices largely contributes to the reduction of poverty in Indonesia.

The meeting also discussed many other issues such as data problems, changing the development of consumption, and the attempts to improve farmer’s income.

“Earlier in the meeting we agreed with the President Jokowi’s view that food price stability has a positive effect towards farmers’ income,” he said. He focused on the fact that farmers groups will be reduced to poverty if they have other alternative activities outside of their main farming activities.

The main point is that farmers can obtain an added value from processing activities such as rice milling up to sales and marketing.

ANTARA