TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P)’s presidential contender Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has pledged to set the nation free of food imports in the next five years if he is elected president.
The Jakarta governor said among the measures the nation must take to realize this was to jack up production in the agriculture sector.
“By focusing on the production,” he said while inspecting a paddy field in Tanjung Rasa hamlet, Cariu district, Bogor regency, on Sunday, April; 27. “If we do this, I think we can be self-supporting in the next four to five years.”
Jokowi also pledged to cut the nation’s imports. He took for example that the paddy field he was visiting could yield six tons of rice seedlings per hectare, thanks to excellent cropping patterns, fertilizers, and irrigation. “Whereas the other paddy fields could only produce five tons per hectare.”
Jokowi said he would also revitalize machineries in sugar industries to curb imported sugar and meet the nation’s demand for the commodity.
“So that we can meet the demand for sugar without having to rely on imported sugar,” he said. “Prepare the best sugarcane seeds. This is not difficult, but, rather, a matter of being willing or unwilling.”
REZA ADITYA