President Jokowi Inaugurates Agricultural Genomics Research Center in N. Sumatra

President Jokowi launches the Agricultural Genomics Research Center in Humbang Hasundutan regency, North Sumatra province, on Wednesday (10/16). (Photo by: BPMI YouTube Channel)

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo Wednesday (10/16) inaugurated the Agricultural Genomics Research Center in Humbang Hasundutan regency, North Sumatra province.

President Jokowi underscored the importance of increasing food production amid the growing challenges of climate change.

He said that climate change is now increasingly evident and the impacts are not limited to hot weather, but also the global decline in food production.

“It is difficult to predict and calculate how many months of hot weather or how many months of rainy weather these days, causing food production in all countries, almost in all countries, to drop. And the world fears a food crisis,” the President said.

He added that Indonesia is still underperforming in agricultural research compared to other countries. For instance, in Indonesia, coffee production only reaches 2 to 2.3 tons per hectare, far below other countries at 8 to 9 tons per hectare.

“It means that the high-quality seeds that we have are inferior to theirs. It is the same case with rice, we are still at 5.2 tons per hectare, while other countries have reached above 7 [tons per hectare]. It means that our research is also still inferior to other countries,” he said.

Therefore, the President applauded the opening of the Agricultural Genomics Research Center, an important step to increase the productivity of agricultural products in the country. He expected that the productivity of plants per hectare, such as frankincense, coffee, rice, potatoes, shallots, and garlic could increase as a result of this research center.

He also pushed for cooperation with other countries to obtain high-quality seeds and increase agricultural production. (FID/ABD) (FI/MMB)