Jakarta – Commander of the Bravo National Campaign Team Communication Team (TKN) Prabowo Gibran, Budisatrio Djiwandono explained that the nation’s self-sufficiency in food will be the top priority if the pair number 2 is elected to lead Indonesia. This is absolute, because a food crisis is looming.
“The main sector targeted for self-sufficiency by Prabowo Gibran is food, water, and energy. In that sector, we must no longer depend on imports. Especially regarding food, Mr. Prabowo has stated that food is a matter of life and death for a nation,” said Budisatrio to journalists in Jakarta (Sunday, 13/1).
The head of the House of Representatives Commission IV, which oversees the fields of agriculture, food, and maritime, explained that in Indonesia there is currently a food deficit due to population growth accompanied by a decrease in land productivity. He gave the example of the crisis that occurred in rice.
“BPS data shows that every year our population increases by about 3 million people. And this population growth is not accompanied by an increase in the cultivated area. Whereas rice is consumed by almost all citizens,” he said.
The deficit, continued Budisatrio, cannot be covered by relying on imports from abroad.
“Learning from the incident with wheat during the Ukraine-Russia war, the supply chain was disrupted so that the price of wheat, which is very dependent on imports, increased sharply. We must not let this also happen to rice, which is our main food,” he said.
To address this, Prabowo Gibran targets a minimum increase of four million hectares of cultivated land in a program called the Food Barn.
“This food barn will exist from the smallest level of the village by the farmers, up to the national level by continuing the food estate. The way is to increase the planting index, intensification, and utilization of fallow land,” said Budisatrio.
“Digital technology for agriculture will also be a priority. We will print new rice fields, as well as increase the productivity of existing land with digital and modern tools and technology. There is no other choice, this must be done,” he continued.
In the context of the presidential election itself, Budisatrio urged that the food crisis can be made a healthy discussion because it is related to the future of the country.
“Favoring the issue of food should be a common agreement. We actually look forward to a variety of ideas to address the food crisis from each pair of candidates. From Prabowo Gibran’s clear statement, we will continue the food estate and refine it into the Food Barn,” concluded Budisatrio. (SENOPATI)
