VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Chief of the Presidential Staff Office (KSP) General (Ret.) Moeldoko encouraged universities to strengthen their research and innovation programs to face various increasingly complex challenges in the food sector.

"We need more innovation to increase productivity, improve quality, substitute exported commodity, and increase food product competitiveness," he said in  a statement on Wednesday.

Indonesia has ample food potentials that had yet to be optimized, Moeldoko noted. Hence, researches and innovations are deemed necessary to develop these potentials, so Indonesia can dominate the global competition in the food sector.

The KSP head also underlined the impacts of climate change that became a current-day challenge to achieve national food security.

He expressed concern over the shift of climate patterns in Indonesia that tended to be wet for the past two years.

"We have been experiencing wet (climate) for more than two years, and I am afraid that we may have dry (climate) with the same length of period," he remarked while receiving the visit of the chancellor of Bina Insan Lubuklinggau University, Sardiyo.

Sardiyo said his side is currently preparing to develop an agricultural Techno Park as a research and development area.

Establishment of the facility is a collaboration opportunity among the education and industry players to produce agricultural products that can be directly utilized by the public.

"We have readied four hectares of fertile land. We sought support from the Presidential Staff Office, so that the plan can be realized soon," the chancellor stated.

Earlier, President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) had emphasized that the potential global economic challenges in 2023 included food crisis, decline in export values, as well as financial crisis.

"Regarding the economic condition in 2023, once again, we must remain careful and vigilant since there are potentials of financial crisis, declining exports, and food crisis that may also trigger social and political problems," he stated. (Antaranews)