VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Jakarta. The Aceh Besar district government is working alongside the SieBreuh Makmue Beusama cooperative unit to develop a food estate program by providing 5,120 hectares of farmland.

The food estate development program is focused on the agricultural areas in Suka Makmur, Kuta Malaka, Ingin Jaya, Simpang Tiga, Darul Imarah, and Darul Kamal sub-districts.

"The farmland is cultivated for food crops and cattle breeding," Head of the SieBreuh Makmue Beusama cooperative unit, Juanda Jamal, stated here on Wednesday.

Local farmers cultivate the farmland for rice field and cattle breeding site, as they are the cooperative unit's shareholders, he remarked.

Of the total farmland, some 1,991 hectares are located in the Suka Makmur Sub-district, while 1,215 hectares are in Ingin Jaya Sub-district.

The remaining farming areas are located in Kuta Malaka Sub-district, reaching 700 hectares; while 786 hectares in Simpang Tiga; 665 hectares in Darul Imarah; and 563 hectares in Darul Kamal.

The food estate program is one of the Indonesian Agriculture Ministry's prioritized programs to meet the country's requirements for food security.

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations has warned its member states that the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic may trigger a deficit of food stockpiles.

In response to this warning, Indonesia is sentient of the significance of boosting the nation's food security amid the ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.

To this end, the government has formulated a program to boost production capacity, local food diversification, development of a food reserves system, modern agriculture, and exports.

With food security being the key focus, the government has been working on its food estate program by developing 165 thousand hectares of land into farmland in Pulang Pisau District, Central Kalimantan Province.

The government also develops 30 thousand hectares of farmland in Humbang Hasundutan Village, North Sumatra Province, to cultivate potatoes and onions.

According to ANTARA’s observation, despite a steady rise in Indonesia's population, the country had yet to achieve food security, which by definition is related to "food availability, food access, and food utilization" (USAID 1995 in FAO).

Rather than feed its people the rice that is produced by its own farmers, the central government has frequently imported rice over the past years to meet the public’s requirements.

This condition has, indeed, posed a grave challenge and does not bode well with Indonesia's status as one of the world's top agricultural countries.

Indonesia should not make it a perpetual practice to import rice from countries, including Thailand and Vietnam, since it will potentially disadvantage local farmers and threaten its national security in the long term. (Antaranews)

Jakarta. The Social Affairs Ministry dispensed further assistance of Rp1.5 billion to survivors of the flash flood and landslide natural disasters in East Nusa Tenggara (NTT).

Some aid was brought in from the logistics warehouse in East Java in addition to assistance channeled in directly by Social Minister Tri Rismaharini along with his return visit to the province on Thursday.

Rismaharini noted that the current emergency requirements included foodstuffs, medicines, and heavy equipment for the evacuation process.

The minister departed from Jakarta on Thursday morning and landed in Maumere and undertook a three-hour journey to Larantuka. The visit aimed at ensuring that the basic needs of the people impacted by the disaster were met since several areas were difficult to reach.

The assistance, worth Rp687.6 million, resent by the ministry comprised foodstuffs, family supplies, evacuation equipment, and clothing from the warehouses in East Java Province.

Meanwhile, assistance, such as evacuation equipment worth Rp620 million, was sent from the central warehouse in Bekasi. The assistance brought from direct shopping was evacuation equipment worth about Rp201 million.

The ministry had earlier distributed some assistance of Rp2.6 billion to meet the basic needs and compensation for residents impacted by natural disasters in NTT on Monday.

The assistance, comprising logistics and compensation for 76 deceased victims, was handed over to their heirs valued at Rp15 million for each, so that the compensation totaled Rp1.140 billion. (Antaranews)

Jakarta. Personnel of the Aceh police continue their crackdown on an inter-provincial drug ring in the province, as they recently apprehended nine suspects along with 194 kilograms (kg) of cannabis.

"The suspects are apprehended at several places in Aceh Province and Medan City, North Sumatra Province," Aceh Police Chief Insp. Gen. Wahyu Widada stated here on Wednesday.

They had a past criminal record of being arrested for transporting 800 kg of marijuana to Palembang, South Sumatra Province, Widada noted.

The suspects, only identified by their initials as SA, HM, FT, AK, NA, IH, MJ, MA, and IL, played different roles in their inter-provincial drug trafficking operations, he remarked.

SA functioned as a courier. He was arrested in the Padang Tiji neighborhood area of Pidie District, Aceh Province, while NA, a woman, assisted those sending the drug packages.

NA was apprehended in Medan, the capital of North Sumatra Province. Her colleague, IH, was arrested in Lhokseumawe City, Aceh Province, for transporting the cannabis packages.

In their network, IL was identified as the marijuana owner, he remarked, adding that the suspects transported the packages to Palembang and Jakarta through courier companies.

"The crackdown on these nine suspects was conducted following a tip-off from residents that there was a delivery of marijuana packages to Palembang and Jakarta," he remarked.

A joint team of police officers from the Aceh police headquarters, National Police, and Banda Aceh city police precinct followed up on the tip-off by conducting a raid operation.

The anti-drug raid operation at a courier company resulted in the discovery of 90 kg of marijuana and the arrests of two suspects, according to Widada.

The anti-drug squad personnel continued their crackdown on other members of this Aceh-North Sumatra drug syndicate by arresting seven other suspects from different places.

All the suspects are currently under police custody, pending further investigation into their drug offences.

If they are found guilty at court, they will be subject to imprisonment or death penalty, Widada added.

Domestic and transnational drug dealers view Indonesia as a potential market on account of its vast population and millions of drug users.

Drug trade in the nation is valued at nearly Rp66 trillion.

Data indicates that people from all societal levels are falling prey to drugs in the country, irrespective of their socio-economic and professional backgrounds. (Antaranews)

Jakarta. The Ministry of Communication and Informatics has evaluated the necessity for synergy in five policy aspects to support comprehensive 5G preparations and management.

"In an effort to implement and develop high-quality 5G services, synergies are necessary in at least in five policy aspects," Minister of Communication and Informatics Johnny G. Plate noted in a statement here on Thursday.

The five aspects are regulations, radio frequency spectrum, business model, infrastructure, ecosystem tools and digital talent.

From a regulatory perspective, Indonesia currently has eight regulations that support the adoption of the latest generation radio network, specifically Law No. 36 of 1999 on Telecommunications; Law No. 11 of 2008 as amended by Law No. 19 of 2016 on Information and Electronic Transactions (UU ITE); Law No. 11 of 2020 on Job Creation; and Government Regulation no. 52 of 2000 on the Operation of Telecommunications.

Other regulations that support the implementation of 5G are Government Regulation No. 53 of 2000 on the Use of Radio Frequency Spectrum and Satellite Orbit; Government Regulation No. 46 of 2021 on Post, Telecommunications, and Broadcasting; Bill on Personal Data Protection; and regulations of the Minister of Communication and Informatics as the implementing rules.

Inter-regulatory synergy is necessary during the 5G era in order to boost data growth, with the massive deployment of Internet of Things service sensors.

To ensure an optimal network when it adopts 5G, the ministry plans to provide frequency bands in all ranges, specifically low band, middle band, and high band.

The ministry has applied two policies in order to optimize its use for the community, specifically neutral technology and the Farming and Frequency Refarming Program.

With regard to business models, Plate views that the presence of 5G will trigger business model changes, both in the telecommunications industry and in other vertical industries, such as manufacturing and automotive.

"This is due to the potential of 5G services that no longer only focuses on human-to-human communication patterns but also integrates human-to-machine as well as creating networks of communication between machine-to-machine," he remarked.

Meanwhile, for infrastructure, fiberization, and strengthening of the overall infrastructure are deemed necessary to support the 5G network.

It highlights three main infrastructure for 5G, specifically BTS towers, efficiency, and regularity of urban planning as an arterial route for fiber optic network distribution and fiberization acceleration.

In the aspects of ecosystem tools and digital talents, he believed that 5G should be able to provide opportunities for domestic potential.

This aspect starts from the Domestic Content Level (TKDN) of 5G devices. The ministry is working with the Ministry of Industry to formulate the right policy. Currently, the TKDN for 4G is 40 percent.

The ecosystem in this network should be built, so that Indonesia can develop its own 5G applications.

Hence, it is necessary to have digital talent that have the capability and insight into 5G. The ministry is preparing digital talent through imparting formal education, such as the Multimedia College and the Digital Talent Scholarship program. (Antaranews)