President Jokowi Orders Cabinet to Prepare Sorghum Production and Downstreaming Roadmap

President Jokowi

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has ordered his cabinet to build a 2024 roadmap for sorghum production and downstreaming.

The President made the statement during an internal cabinet meeting at Merdeka Palace in Jakarta, Thursday (08/04).

“The President ordered us to build a 2024 roadmap,” Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto said in his press statement after the meeting, adding that there are currently 4,355 hectares of sorghum spread in six provinces with a yield of 15,243 tons or approximately 3.36 tons per hectare.

On that occasion, Airlangga also pointed out that the Government has targeted 15,000 hectares of sorghum to be planted in 2022 and will increase the target to 154,000 hectares in 2024.

“The President ordered that East Nusa Tenggara province, particularly Waingapu regency that has been inspected by the President, is prioritized, 115,000 hectares be prepared in 2023 and 154,000 hectares be prepared in 2024,” he said.

According to Airlangga, Indonesia’s sorghum production is still low although the plant is considered able to replace other plant commodities, such as corn replacement for animal feed raw material and bioethanol.

“The animal feed industry’s raw materials are 50 percent corn and 50 percent other proteins. Sorghum is certainly one of the other proteins that can be used by offtakers, for animal feed,” he said, adding that sorghum can also be an alternative for wheat, which has been banned for export by several countries including Kazakhstan, India, Afghanistan, Serbia, and Ukraine.

“Therefore, we certainly must develop plants to replace or substitute wheat. Indonesia has several alternatives besides sorghum, such as sago and cassava,” he remarked. (FID/UN) (DH/MMB)