Statement of President of the Republic of Indonesia During Inspection and Corn Seeds Planting, 4 October 2021, Klamesen Subdistrict, Sorong Regency, West Papua Province

This morning, I am in Sorong regency, West Papua province together with Speaker of the House of Representatives, Minister of Agriculture, and the Governor.

West Papua province has great potential to be developed as a major producer of agricultural commodities in Eastern Indonesia.

There are 11 thousand hectares of corn plants throughout the province, as well as 7 million hectares of food crops and horticulture. This is a very large area but only 33 percent of the area can be utilized for maximum use.

To that end, I order Minister of Agriculture and Governor of West Papua to improve agricultural productivity in Sorong regency and in all regencies in West Papua province, to boost production capacity, to change the cropping system from once a year to twice a year or thrice a year so that the food demand in Papua can be met by Papua Island itself.

And also, it is my fervent hope to invite millennial farmers to be given the opportunity as a driving force in this agricultural sector. They have been trained by Minister of Agriculture. How many of them, Sir? Eight hundred farmers, but it was targeted to reach approximately two thousand. We will complete it. I am convinced that if they gain the trust, they will be able to create food security, especially in West Papua province and soon throughout the country.

I have also seen the use of agricultural technology. There will be access to business capital, as well as irrigation. Ministry of Agriculture will improve the worm channel and provide trainings related to agricultural technology. We hope all of these things can increase our productivity. The most important thing is to plant corn because we still need more corn, both for food and for animal feed.

That concludes my remarks. (RIF/MUR)