TEMPO.CO, Yogyakarta - Agriculture Ministry is to distribute 46 million free seeds in 2018. "In 2017, we have distributed more than 30million seeds including coffee, palm, cacao, clover, and nutmeg," Agriculture Ministry’s Director General Bambang said in Yogyakarta on Saturday. "In 2018 we stepped it up into 46 million seeds."
2018, Bambang stated, will be the year of national seeds especially for agricultural sector after the last three years. This measure is in line with the government’s goal to realize food self-sufficiency for rice, corn, and shallots.
In accordance with the instruction from President Joko Widodo, most of the society must rely on agricultural plants, especially spices because they are entirely managed by the people’s farms. For that reason, Agriculture Ministry attempts to increase the productivity of agricultural plants by distributing free seeds.
As much as Rp 1.6 trillion funds have been allocated in 2018 State Budget. This figure is higher than that of 2017 State Budget with Rp 1.1trillion.
ANTARA