VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) commenced the rice harvest period in Kartoharjo Village's plots in Ngawi District, East Java, on Saturday.

His entourage included Agriculture Minister Syahrul Yasin Limpo, East Java Governor Khofifah Indar Parawansa, and Head of Ngawi District Ony Anwar Harsono.

Each region has a different degree of fertility, with various types of management, thereby leading to differing results of harvests from one place to another, the head of state noted.

"Last time, it was in Kebumen. This time, the harvest in Ngawi District, East Java. I see there is a difference, especially in the productivity rate per hectare. Here, (in Ngawi), there are some which reached 10.5 tons per hectares, while there are some reaching eight tons per hectare, while last time, over there, it is capped at 5.5 to six tons per hectare," he elaborated.

However, the most important aspect is maintaining the stability in the price of grain, so it would not go down during the harvest time, Jokowi emphasized.

"Indeed, the price of grain must be set immediately. Do not let the price to go down because harvest time is everywhere. This will be announced soon by the Food Agency, so purchases by the Logistics Bureau can be clearer," he stated.

The Food Agency is currently recalculating the newest government buying price (HPP) for grain and rice by taking into account factors, such as plot rental, prices of fertilizers, seeds, and other operational fees, so the farmers will still gain profits.

Moreover, the newest HPP will adopt a middle ground between the selling price for traders and buying price for consumers.

"What is difficult is for the government to balance the price that is reasonable for farmers, reasonable for traders, and reasonable for consumers. Finding that middle ground is not easy," he elaborated.

Thus, Jokowi pressed for the established price to not be set below the total expenses for operational stuff that the farmers disbursed. (Antaranews)

Social granaries will be established in Serasan Island, Natuna district, Riau Islands province, as a disaster mitigation attempt, Social Affairs Minister Tri Rismaharini informed on Friday.

"The area is difficult (to be reached), hence later we will build social granaries, the village head can propose (for the establishment of the granaries),” she said while visiting landslide refugees in Payak village, East Serasan sub-district here.

A social granary is a refuge post, which also stores food, clothes, diapers, generators, and portable solar cells with a power of one thousand watts, she added.

"We will prepare it (the granaries). I consider it (establishing the granaries) per island, but seeing the conditions (the difficult geographical landscape) like this, (I think) this (Payak) village also needs to have the same (social granary),” the minister said.

According to her, the granaries should not only be constructed in one location on Serasan Island, but in several areas.

Hence, it is necessary to map the needs of each region without any regard to the administrative boundaries on the establishment of the granaries, she said.

"This area is secluded, therefore, granaries should also be prepared in remote areas," Rismaharini added.

Furthermore, local residents will also be trained by the emergency response unit (Tagana) so that they gain the skills needed to set up refugee tents and manage public kitchens, as an independent emergency response attempt, she said.

"Later, Tagana and my staff (the Social Affairs Ministry’s officers) will conduct the training for disaster mitigation to reduce casualties," she added.

The minister said that according to her aerial observation of the condition of Serasan Island, it still looked green and was filled with dense forests, meaning that the landslide was probably caused by the weather.

"Earlier, I saw from above that the island is still very green, meaning that it (the landslide on Monday) was due to natural factors influenced by the weather. However, the potential for disaster still exists, thus a mitigation attempt is needed," she added.

After talking with affected residents, she asked the head of Payak village to quickly propose a plan for making a social barn so that it could be realized immediately.  (Antaranews)

The Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (KKP) Ministry is planning to run a pilot project for modern seaweed aquaculture in Wakatobi district, Southeast Sulawesi Province, and Southeast Maluku District in Maluku Province.

"However, we will build one in Wakatobi district, because the regional head (of the district) was the quickest to respond (to the plan)," Director General of Aquaculture at the ministry, T.B. Haeru Rahayu, said at the Area-Based Shrimp Cultivation Ponds (BUBK) here on Friday.

The cultivation of seaweed in Wakatobi district will pay attention to environmental sustainability by not using plastic rope to tie the seaweed, but coconut shells to minimize the potential of microplastic pollution in the waters.

"However, economically, this (the cost of developing the seaweed farming area) is expensive,” he said.

For instance, it costs Rp500 per plastic rope, while the price of coconut shells is Rp2,500 each, he expounded.

“The cost is still quite high. Thus, we are still looking for a cheaper way (to run the aquaculture facility). Still, it is important to pay attention to environmental issues," he said.

The cultivation program aims to improve Indonesia’s production of seaweed, which is still lower than the production of China, Rahayu noted.

Furthermore, he pointed out that there are a number of obstacles in implementing seaweed farming in Indonesia, one of which is the inadequate quality of the seedlings used by the farmers, which makes the seedlings susceptible to disease.

However, he said that currently, the problem has been resolved by using tissue culture technology to get quality seedlings.

Another obstacle is that the commodity is sold as a raw material, which has no value-added, the director general added.

He noted that 60–70 percent of the seaweed sold is unprocessed.

Thus, his party needs off-takers to absorb the commodity and develop a factory to process it.

"In the downstream sector (of seaweed cultivation), we need an off-taker who wants to buy and build a factory, hence the commodity will not be sold as dry raw seaweed but at least it will be processed into ATC (Alkali Treated Cottonii/Seaweed Chip)," Rahayu said.

Thus, it is expected that Indonesia will manufacture more seaweed-derived cosmetic and pharmaceutical products in the future, he added.  (Antaranews)

The Ngurah Rai Special Class I Immigration Office in Bali arrested two Russian nationals for allegedly violating their residence permits by working as motorcycle riding instructors in Bali.

Immigration personnel arrested the two, identified by their initials as RK and AG, on March 8, 2023, after monitoring their activity as instructors in Gunung Payung area, Badung, Bali.

"Our team monitored their activities for two days, and the team took evidence through photos and videos. After that, the team checked their residence permits and found that they used visa on arrival (VOA)," the head of immigration technology, information, and communication (TIKIM) at the office Sandro Bobby Raymon Limbong informed at a press conference in Badung, Bali, on Friday.

The immigration team then arrested RK and AG and took them to the Immigration Office for questioning.

“Currently, a more in-depth investigation of RK and AG is being carried out by the intelligence and enforcement team," he said.

Foreign nationals entering Bali using VoA are not allowed to work because the residence permit is intended for tourism purposes, Limbong explained.

In order to work in Indonesia, foreigners are required to get a limited-stay work permit, which is valid for six months (180 days), one year, or two years. The residence permit can be extended when the validity period expires, he informed.

According to him, the immigration team began monitoring the two Russian nationals after receiving information from the public, including from the Instagram account @moscow_branch_bali, which uploaded a video of a number of foreigners learning to ride motorcycles in Gunung Payung area, Kutuh, Badung.

Besides reports from the public, Ngurah Rai Immigration also has a cyber patrol team, which also monitors the activities of foreigners in Bali.

So far, Ngurah Rai Immigration is still investigating information received from the two Russian nationals, including on the duration of their work, the number of motorcycles used for practice, and the number of clients they had.

“We are still investigating their motives because they were just arrested yesterday. We want to know the scope of their motives as well," Limbong said. (antaranews)