Karawang – The Indonesian government is positive of successfully handling the negative effects of the El Nino-induced prolonged dry season on the agricultural sector, Deputy Minister of Agriculture Harvick Hasnul Qolbi said.
” Praise be to God, we still have enough quantities of food stocks. Ideally, we will manage it (El Nino) well,” he verified throughout a harvesting activity at the Center for Studies on Plant Bug Organisms (BBPOPT) in Karawang district, West Java, on Friday.
Qolbi informed that the Farming Ministry has actually prepared a variety of steps focused on building food resilience for preparing for the El Nino heat phenomenon.
The steps include encouraging parties to expedite planting, upgrading and renewing farming equipment, and picking and focusing on remarkable seeds that are more resistant to severe weather, he elaborated.
The deputy minister stated that the ministry has actually distributed sorted seeds to a number of areas, including West Java, in the hopes of keeping the agricultural efficiency rate in the regions.
He said that the existing extended dry season that the nation is experiencing has actually indeed slowed down the production of rice.
According to him, Indonesia’s rice production is seeing a downturn, with output falling by 1.2 million tons.
He verified that the country will not see a deficit given that its overall yearly production of rice is still pegged at 30 million heaps.
” El Nino has actually undoubtedly led to a slowdown in (rice) production. However, this can be managed,” he said.
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He then attracted the general public to not stress over the downturn, saying that the country has still enough stocks of rice.
In addition to taking part in the harvesting activity, Deputy Minister Qolbi inspected soybean plants cultivated by BBPOPT during his working visit to Karawang district.
His check out belonged to the federal government’s efforts to guarantee that areas are able to maintain their food resilience in the middle of the prolonged dry season.
Head of Karawang district, Cellica Nurrachadiana, extended her thankfulness to the Agriculture Ministry for its listening to the condition of the agricultural sector in her district.
The district head said that Karawang has actually succeeded in protecting enough supply of water by maintaining the operation of irrigation canals.
” We are also currently expediting planting processes to anticipate El Nino,” she included.
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