VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The Indonesian government has been able to increase agricultural efficiency by 48 percent over the past four years by encouraging agricultural modernization through agricultural tools and machinery (Alsintan) assistance. To encourage the modernization of agriculture with the assistance of machinery and agricultural equipment have been going on since 2015. Director General of Agricultural Infrastructure and Facilities (PSP) Pending Dadih Permana noted at a press conference that the use of agricultural tools and machinery to encourage agricultural modernization can increase farming efficiency by 35 to 48 percent. The director general remarked that Alsintan was provided in the form of two-wheeled tractors and four-wheeled tractors; water pumps; rice transplanting equipment; choppers; cultivators; excavators; hand sprayers; corn planting tools; and semi-manual corn planting devices. Permana explained that the Ministry of Agriculture encourages modernization in agricultural cultivation as a whole, including land-processing activities, planting, harvesting, and processing agricultural products.  In 2019, the Ministry of Agriculture, through the Directorate General of Agricultural Infrastructure and Facilities, plans to develop a swamp area of 500 thousand hectares spreading across Kalimantan, Sumatra, and Sulawesi. (ANTARA)