Jokowi Laments Lack of Agriculture Startups Amid Food Crisis

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo on the SOEs Startup Day on Monday lamented the lack of Indonesian startups in the field of agriculture amidst increasing threats of the food crisis in the future. As of now, Indonesia ranks sixth in terms of the number of startups compared to the United States in first and followed by India, Britain, Canada, and Australia. 

23 percent of Indonesia’s startups are in the field of financial technology or fintech with the second largest being retail with 14 percent. Those in the field of agriculture only amount to 4 percent. 

"In fact, if you look at the food crisis in the future, it will be a big problem that technology must solve. And this is an opportunity," said Jokowi at the event on September 26.

The dimensions in the food industry he said are broad from production, and distribution. Food issues are not exclusively about rice, but also other commodities such as vegetables and sago.

Jokowi reminded startups and young entrepreneurs that this condition is a great opportunity for them as the data he has states that every day there are 19,600 people in the world who die of hunger due to food crises. On the other hand, Indonesia's digital economy is growing rapidly 8 times, from Rp632 trillion to Rp4,531 trillion today.

The second most promising industry startups can be involved in, he added, is the health industry, and the field of MSMEs ranks the third most prospective category. 

FAJAR PEBRIANTO

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