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President Director of the State Logistics Agency (Bulog) Budi Waseso during a visit to the planned food estate area in Central Kalimantan. (ANTARA/HO-Bulog/sh

State Logistics Agency (Bulog) readied land to build a warehouse in the food estate area under the government’s development plan on 165 thousand hectares in Pulang Pisau, Central Kalimantan, Bulog's President Director Budi Waseso, stated.  

The agency is designated as an off-taker for the farmers’ yield to support food self-sufficiency in the nation.

Under the government's food estate establishment project, Bulog will partake in building a warehouse and rice milling plant in the district.

"Of the total 165 thousand hectares of food estate, production has begun in some 48 thousand hectares of paddy field in Pulang Pisau. It means that production will increase, as other areas have entered the planting season. This will become a new source for food self-sufficiency in Indonesia," Waseso stated in Jakarta on Tuesday.

The 48 hectares of paddy field has produced four tons of rice per hectare annually, he noted.

Development of the warehouse and rice milling plant is expected to be completed in the near future and become operational in October 2020, Waseso remarked.

"We applaud the government's efforts to establish the food estate in Central Kalimantan. Bulog, as part of state-run companies in the food cluster, will serve as an off-taker," he affirmed.

Waseso stated that the land for the food estate has offered a new ray of hope for boosting food self-sufficiency in Indonesia and a solution to tackling the threat of food crisis owing to the drought, as warned by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

Currently, Bulog has 1.4 million tons of rice stocks to meet domestic demand.

The Indonesian government is developing a food estate project in Kapuas District and Belanti Siam Village in Pulang Pisau District, Central Kalimantan Province, under the National Strategic Program (PSN) that will be implemented within the next three years.

In 2020, at least 30 thousand hectares of land will be made available for the project, and the land size will be expanded over the next two years. (ANTARA)

Vice President KH Ma'ruf Amin

Indonesian Vice President Ma'ruf Amin drew importance to the key role of superior human resources (HR) in winning the global competition.

To this end, improving the quality of human resources became a priority in development programs.

"We face huge challenges in the efforts to boost the capacity of human resources that is the government's top priority," Vice President Amin stated while delivering his remarks at the graduation ceremony of the Open University Academic Year 2019-2020 on Tuesday.

Citing the data of the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) in 2019, Amin pointed out that the number of people receiving higher education opportunities were still quite limited. Amin noted that merely 9.7 percent of Indonesia's population had the opportunity to pursue higher education.

"Of the population of 126.57 million aged 15 years and above that worked, the survey of the National Labor Force (Sakernas) in August 2019 indicated that some 12.27 million, or 9.7 percent, had the opportunity to enjoy higher education and become university graduates," he explained.

In the face of such conditions, Amin noted that the government had continually endorsed greater access to higher education in Indonesia, including through expanding the presence of the open university in the regions.

"The open university also shoulders huge responsibility in the efforts to boost capacity, among others, by encouraging greater access to education, including higher education," the vice president affirmed.

Furthermore, the community's gross enrollment rate (APK) for continuing higher education is yet under 40 percent. Hence, the open university is expected to be a solution to boosting the APK through the distance learning system.

"The open university is expected to improve the APK to become better. This is also in accordance with the government's road map in providing higher education on an unlimited scale and affordable costs for the community," he affirmed.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo, known as Jokowi, highlighted the quality of human resources as the foundation for the nation’s development.

"In future, we must build a foundation of quality human resources, with mastery in science and technology," the president noted through his Instagram account, Jokowi.  (ANTARA)

Screen grab of BPOM Chairwoman Penny Lukito at a press conference of the Task Force for the Acceleration of COVID-19 Handling in Jakarta, Tuesday (19/5/2020). ANTARA/Prisca Triferna/ac

Chairwoman of the Food and Drug Supervisory Agency (BPOM) Penny Kusumastuty Lukito echoed her office's guarantee of the validity of protocols for the clinical trial for the COVID-19 vaccine.

"The BPOM surely guarantees the validity of the COVID-19 vaccine clinical trial protocols. We will chaperone the clinical trial process up until the stage of accelerating the licensing and the distribution permit process," she noted during a press conference following a limited cabinet meeting with President Joko Widodo at the Merdeka Palace in Jakarta, Tuesday.

Lukito further remarked that the third phase of the clinical trial for the COVID-19 vaccine was underway and deemed the most critical stage and an advanced step in the process.

"This means that we are almost at the brink of making a finding and producing the vaccines," she remarked.

The first and second pre-clinical phases had earlier been cleared.

Lukito also spoke of following the production process by Bio Farma in parallel, with regard to the facilities that will allow BPOM to give the distribution permit following the completion of the clinical trial phase. (ANTARA)

Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto (center) at a press conference on the Committee for COVID-19 handling and National Economic Recovery in Jakarta on Tuesday (July 21, 2020). ANTARA/Dewa Wiguna/sh

The Indonesian government will attach top priority to domestic products in its healthcare spending for handling the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in an endeavor to drive domestic economic growth amid the pandemic.

"National products must be given priority to have multiplier effects on the public," Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto stated in Jakarta on Tuesday.

The government will augment health spending, as it has allotted Rp87.55 trillion for handling the COVID-19 pandemic.

Vaccines, drug availability, and antibodies have emerged as the keys to the effective handling of the SARS CoV-2 virus coupled with the pharmaceutical industry's readiness to support the government, Hartarto remarked.

However, the minister noted that the application of health protocols remained the main strategy in thwarting the spread of COVID-19.

"Of course, the major strategy pertaining to surveillance, tracing, contact tracing and isolation must be implemented in addition to the health protocols, such as washing hands, wearing masks, and physical distancing. This will necessitate the involvement of all stakeholders and the public," he expounded.

Healthcare spending focusing on domestic products became the agenda at the first meeting of the newly established Committee for COVID-19 handling and National Economic Recovery led by Hartarto.

The committee was formed in accordance with Presidential Regulation No. 82 of 2020.

The committee involves the coordinating minister for human development and cultural affairs, coordinating minister for maritime affairs and investment, finance minister, health minister, and home affairs minister.

The state enterprises minister was tasked with functioning as the committee’s chief executive. The Task Force for Acceleration of COVID-19 Handling and Task Force for National Economic Recovery and Transformation will work under the committee’s coordination. (ANTARA)