VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

VOINews, Jakarta - The Indonesian Agriculture Ministry has continued to strengthen the mechanism for transforming the nation's agricultural system from traditional to modern.

"In the current era of technological development, we must keep up with the modern agriculture method like other countries in Asia and Europe. The modern system is currently being implemented by our farmers in stages," Agriculture Minister Andi Amran Sulaiman said.

Speaking at the 2023 National Agricultural Instructors Gathering in Sigi, Central Sulawesi, on Monday, he said Indonesia is on par with Thailand as one of the agriculture producers in the Asian region, though, in previous years, its level of domestic mechanization was just 0.14 horsepower per hectare.

In 2019, Indonesia managed to catch up with Thailand's 2.1 horsepower per hectare mechanization.

Currently, the Indonesian government is aiming to match modern agriculture or the Japanese mechanization level of six horsepower per hectare, Sulaiman informed.

"Our domestic agriculture must keep up with the modern agriculture method. In other countries, spreading fertilizer has been carried out by unmanned aircraft or drones," he pointed out.

The minister said that the use of technology for carrying out agricultural activities has been very effective and efficient in the current era, therefore the contribution of millennial farmers is necessary to accelerate this transformation.

"Shifting the farmers' culture may take time. We need help from field agricultural instructors (PPL) who consistently communicate with farmers as working partners," he added.

The government's intervention to build a sustainable agricultural climate has included involving farmers of productive age in the formation of a forum through the Indonesian Youth Farming Movement (Gempita), which is focused on millennials, Sulaiman noted.

Considering that technological developments are increasing rapidly, agricultural solutions in the future must use digitalization, starting from cultivation activities to selling produce, the minister said.

"Attracting young people to enter the agricultural sector begins with creating an economic circulation of profits, then using the latest technology to support agriculture activities. The government is in the middle of intensifying those efforts," he added. (Antaranews)

VOI, Jakarta - President Xi Jinping said on Monday stable ties between China and Australia served each other's interests and both should expand their cooperation, sending a clear signal that Beijing was ready to move on from recent tensions.

China and Australia should promote the development of their strategic partnership as they build up mutual understanding and trust, Xi told Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, the first Australian leader to visit Beijing since 2016, at the Great Hall of the People in the heart of the Chinese capital.

A strong relationship "will be beneficial into the future," Albanese told Xi in their second face-to-face talks in a year, a meeting that lasted more than an hour.

For decades, China and Australia built a relationship on trade, with Beijing becoming Canberra's biggest commercial partner with purchases of Australian food and natural resources.

But ties soured after Australia in 2017 accused China of meddling in its politics. The following year, Australia banned equipment from Chinese tech giant Huawei Technologies Co (HWT.UL) for its 5G network out of national security fears.

An Australian call in 2020 for an international inquiry into the origin of the COVID pandemic, which emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2019, infuriated Beijing, which responded with blocks on various Australian imports.

As relations deteriorated, China warned its students against studying in Australia, citing racist incidents, threatening a multi-billion-dollar education market.

Earlier on Monday, Albanese stopped by Beijing's iconic Temple of Heaven and posed for a photograph at the circular Echo Wall where Australia's then prime minister, Gough Whitlam, stood in 1973, a year after the two countries established ties. (Reuters)

VOI, Jakarta - Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing on Monday that Australia has an interest in the continued stable growth of China's economy and its ongoing engagement with the world.

In opening remarks as the two leaders met at the Great Hall of the People, Albanese said a strong relationship between the two countries was "beneficial into the future".

"Australia, along with other countries in the region, has an interest in continued stable growth in the Chinese economy, and its ongoing engagement with the world ," he said, according to an official transcript from the Australian Prime Minister's Office.

Albanese said it was "important that we have communication" where differences arise. (Reuters)

VOI, Jakarta - India's Delhi city will restrict use of vehicles next week to curb rising pollution as air quality in the capital remained dangerously unsafe for a third consecutive day despite mitigation efforts.

New Delhi ranks among the world's top polluted cities every year ahead of the onset of winter, when calm winds and low temperatures trap pollutants from sources including vehicles, industries, construction dust, and crop residue burning in nearby fields.

A thick smog shrouded the federal secretariat and president's palace in the heart of the city early on Monday, and lowered visibility in other parts, as public outrage over hazardous air quality grew and the city extended closure of primary schools until Nov. 10.

The local government said that it will impose the "odd-even" vehicle rule from Nov. 13-20 to mitigate pollution levels that are expected to rise after the Hindu festival of Diwali on Nov. 12, when firecrackers are often set despite a ban.

The rule will allow vehicles with odd registration numbers on the road on odd dates and similarly vehicles with even numbers on alternate days.

Environmental experts have previously said that the rule, which has been imposed multiple times with some variations since 2016, has been more effective in de-congesting roads and less effective in bringing down pollution.

"In view of rising pollution, odd-even will be imposed in Delhi," Gopal Rai, the local environment minister, told reporters, adding that a meeting will be held with police and transport department on Tuesday to decide on the implementation.

Air quality was "severe" for a third consecutive day in the city on Monday, making it the second most polluted city in the world, behind Lahore in Pakistan, according to a real-time compilation by Swiss group IQAir.

A cricket World Cup match involving Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, however, went ahead in the city on Monday with organisers installing air purifiers in the players' dressing rooms and using water sprinklers to reduce pollutants in the air.

Curbs on vehicles are in addition to a ban on construction work for public projects in the national capital region, and restrictions on entry of trucks and heavy vehicles in Delhi, imposed by a federal pollution control watchdog on Sunday.

An analysis of 25 research studies by the Down To Earth magazine, published on Sunday, showed that poor air quality was linked to low birth weight, preterm delivery, stillbirth, developmental delay, restricted growth in children and even death. (Reuters)