Gov't: We Reversed Corn Import Dependency into Export
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16 January 2019 15:06 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Minister of Agriculture Andi Amran Sulaiman asserts that Indonesia is able to free itself from an import dependency, as the country has exported 372,000 tons of corn in 2018, from previously importing 3.5 million tons of corn from Argentina four years ago.
This was made possible by the 600 hectares of corn fields in Probolinggo, East Java, which had just been harvested today, January 16, 2019.
“As we arrive here, this might be a farewell speech. We reversed the 3.5 million imports into exports,” said the minister to the corn farmers.
Other than corn, Minister Amran also handed government subsidy in the form of over 2 tons of rice seeds and 75 tons of corn seeds to local farmers in East Java.
“We hope this (assistance) will skyrocket corn productions and reach the 33-ton goal by the end of 2019,” said Amran.
Read: Indef: 70 Percent Export Market All the Same
According to Probolinggo Regent Puput Tantriana Sari, her region’s sub-district Paiton fields’ productivity reaches 8 tons/hectare of dry shelled corn in January.
The regent reveals that nearly 75 percent from 1 million population in the region is currently working as farmers, which all started from the program four years ago of planting shallot that made Probolinggo become a major producer of shallot.
ANTARA
