Jakarta –
Minister of Agriculture Syahrul Yasin Limpo said the impact of this year’s El Nino is estimated to have the potential to cause a shortage of rice stocks of between 380 thousand tons and 1.2 million tons. The potential for a decrease in this stock can occur due to a decrease in the amount of agricultural production.
“Through data and field analysis, we are ready, that no matter how hard the El Nino is, we will shorten it or our shortfall will be between 380 thousand tons and 1.2 million tons,” Syahrul said when met by journalists, written Thursday (17/8/2023 ).
Facing this problem, Syahrul and his staff admitted that they had prepared an additional 500 thousand hectares of agricultural land. This was done to boost rice production which was lacking due to El Nino.
“We are preparing a booster for planting activities of more than 500 thousand hectares apart from the regular ones, so the regular program will continue as we have planned,” he explained.
According to him, the addition of 500 thousand hectares of agricultural land is sufficient to cover the shortage of national rice production. Of course the additional 500 thousand hectares will be carried out in areas with sufficient water reserves.
“We will add 500 thousand hectares to cover it (lack of production). Of course, we are looking for places in our mapping that are possible. One of the mappings is in green areas, green areas means there is enough water,” said Syahrul.
Syahrul hopes that through the addition of agricultural land, Indonesia can increase production by 1-1.5 million tonnes of rice.
(fdl/fdl)
2023-08-17 14:00:52
#Minister #Agriculture #Nino #Rice #Stocks #Drop #Million #Tons #Heres #Overcome
