VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Minister of Agriculture (Mentan) Syahrul Yasin Limpo said the World Food and Agriculture Agency (FAO) appreciated Indonesia's food security efforts and considered that these efforts were on the right track.

The Minister of Agriculture said that FAO conveyed the appreciation at the 35th FAO Regional Conference for the Asia Pacific (APRC) regarding food security efforts prepared by each country. "FAO appreciates that Indonesia is on the right track to prepare for food security," said Minister Syahrul in a virtual discussion held by BNPB, Monday.

To maintain national food security, the Minister of Agriculture Syahrul said the agricultural sector had maintained rice availability with the production of the 2019-2020 planting season which produced 31 million tons of rice, including a rice surplus by the end of the year reaching 7 million tons.

The Ministry of Agriculture is also accelerating planting in October 2020-March 2021, which is estimated to produce an additional 17 million tons of rice equivalent.

Minister of Agriculture Syahrul added that the agricultural sector contributed to the recovery of the national economy, by being the only sector that consistently grew positively in the second quarter and third quarter of 2020.

Based on BPS data, the agricultural sector contributed greatly to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) wherein the second quarter of 2020 it grew to 2.19 percent and the third quarter is still growing 2.15 percent.

There is also a GDP contribution in the third quarter of 2020 reaching 14.58 percent. Based on existing data, agricultural exports for the January-August 2020 period reached the US $ 2.4 billion or Rp258 trillion.

"Agricultural exports are increasing and showing a pretty good trend. We are only constrained by the April lockdown, after that recovery, and demand for our food exports is quite large," said the Minister of Agriculture. (Antaranews)