VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Indonesian President Joko Widodo accompanied by First Lady Iriana Joko Widodo launched a mango-based food estate during his working visit to Gresik Regency, East Java on Monday (22/8).

On the same occasion, President Joko Widodo also launched the Alsintan Taxi Program, which is the Ministry of Agriculture's program to help provide agricultural tools and machinery (alsintan) independently by business actors in the agricultural sector through the facilitation of People's Business Credit (KUR). The President hopes that the program can replace patterns and approaches that are considered less productive.Director-General of Agricultural Infrastructure and Facilities at the Ministry of Agriculture, Ali Jamil explained, the Alsintan Taxi Program is an innovation from the Ministry of Agriculture to reduce the burden on the state budget and train farmers' independence. Previously, President Joko Idodo had given directions to Minister of Agriculture, Syahrul Yasin Limpo regarding the independence of farmers in the context of developing national agriculture.

Ali Jamil added, the use of Alsintan can also be leased through a cooperative scheme or an Alsintan taxi business unit. Rentals can even be done hourly or even per day and can be used through planting, harvesting and post-harvesting. This provides benefits for increasing farm productivity and efficiency, and solving the problem of agricultural labor and farming time more efficiently.

The availability of land for agriculture, and the use of modern agricultural tools and machinery are the main factors in agricultural development. The current global situation shows that it is not industrialization, but food security that can make a country able to face any crisis. Food resilience can be achieved if agriculture advances. The government support through its programs is certainly needed by farmers to increase their productivity independently.