VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

VOINews, Jakarta - Indonesia and China need to share knowledge and exchange information related to agricultural technology, chief of the Presidential Staff (KSP), Moeldoko, has said.

He delivered the statement here on Tuesday while sending off the Indonesian Farmers' Association's (HKTI's) women farmers delegation and representatives from the Chinese Indonesian Association (INTI) for the China-ASEAN Youngpreneurs event in China.

"We need to explore and learn from each other about the development of agricultural technology, especially to (anticipate) the food crisis that is not only a problem in our country, but also the world," he said.

Moeldoko, who is also the chairperson of HKTI, underlined that the diversification of staples needs to be carried out considering that weather phenomena such as El Nino are causing drought in several regions.

"There are many other sources of carbohydrates (other than rice). I recommend that women farmers focus on corn and cassava commodities; these two ingredients can be a substitute for rice," he said.

The delegation of young Indonesians who have realized the huge potential of agribusiness in Indonesia can erase the paradigm that the current youth do not care about the agricultural sector, he added.

"I support young Indonesians who have the ambition to develop Indonesian agriculture, so that in the future, Indonesia will be more advanced in the agricultural sector," he said.

Meanwhile, the chair of HKTI Women Farmers, Dian Novita, said that her side decided to send a delegation of young Indonesians to China because of China's status as Indonesia's largest trading partner, including in the agricultural industry.

"The main goal is that we want to help Indonesian farmers and agribusiness players to penetrate the market easily because the problem is in the supply chain, and we want to innovate there," Novita informed.

On the occasion, HKTI and INTI also signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on business matching with Chinese investors. (Antaranews)