Presidential Staffer Billy Mambrasar Visits Millennial Farmer in Southeast Sulawesi

Special Staffer to the President Billy Mambrasar (Photo by: PR/Rahmat)

As part of his visit to Southeast Sulawesi province, Special Staffer to the President Billy Mambrasar, on Thursday (5/11), paid a visit to the farm belonged to Ali Alhamdi, a millennial farmer in South Konawe Regency.

The visit, the Presidential Staffer said, is an effort to generate 2.5 million millennial farmers in Indonesia, a program initiated by Ministry of Agriculture, in which he was tasked with collaborating and synergizing the farmers’ ecosystems owned by the Ministry, especially millennial farmers, to expand the ecosystems.

“President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo also instructed that the state should become the patron of the millennial farmers and provide protection for them consolidated with Indonesia’s agricultural development program,” Billy said.

On the occasion, Ali gave his appreciation to the Government’s food security program. “This is an extraordinary program from the President,” he said. The 27-year-old man is not the only millennial farmer in Konda District of South Konawe. A group of young farmers makes up around 20 percent of the total farmers in the region.

Billy also welcomed this ecosystem. He stated that the next task is to connect the ecosystem with possible supporting institutions, one of which is the World Bank. “They are very supportive. So if the ecosystem is ready, then my part is just connecting it,” he said.

According to the Staffer, more and more young farmers like Ali, who is directly involved in agriculture, are needed. “If there are 100 thousand more people like Ali, then Indonesian agriculture will ensure its food security,” he said, adding that he was tasked by the Ministry to generate 100 thousand millennial farmers.

Ali stated that he can harvest three times a year with an average yield of five tons of rice for a hectare of land. However, the rice field conditions are very different in the dry season. “In the dry season, we struggle from morning to morning for water because there is no dam and irrigation here,” he said.

Therefore, Ali also expressed hope for improvement in road and irrigation infrastructure, support in agricultural equipment, river normalization, and dam construction near his rice fields. (SLN/UN)

Translated by: Fairuzzamani Inayatillah
Reviewed by: Muhardi