Statement of President of the Republic of Indonesia during Maize Planting, 23 November 2021, in Jeneponto Regency, South Sulawesi Province

Assalamu’alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.

This afternoon, I together with Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs, Minister of Agriculture, Governor of South Sulawesi, Regent of Jeneponto, and the farmers planted maize in an area of 1,000 hectares.

And, we hope that from each hectare, we can produce six to seven tons. And, throughout South Sulawesi, we expect the province to produce 1.8 million tons. We are certainly in shortage of maize supply, nationally. So, we hope that with more and more farmers planting maize, we can put an end to the national shortage immediately and we do not have to import maize any more.

For the record, the current price is indeed very good for farmers, because I asked them ‘how much is the price of maize per kilogram?’, it is already Rp4,000 here. If the price is too high, the farmers are happy, but the meat and egg-producing chicken breeders will definitely complain because the price of livestock feed becomes certainly high.

Indeed, these two must be balanced. Farmers should benefit, but breeders must also benefit. We are working to balance these if the national production is sufficient.

This concludes my statement on this auspicious occasion.
I thank you.

Wassalamu’alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh. (FI/MUR)