Heaptalk, Sangatta — East Kutai’s Department of Agriculture and Food Security (Diskepang) is set to enhance food security in the region amidst the issue of the narrowing of agricultural land due to the shift of land function into plantations and mining.
As an effort to support food security, the local Diskepang initiated a Forum Group Discussion (FGD) with the theme ‘The Escalation of Society’s Welfare through Downstream and Modernization” in South Sangatta (05/30). The one-day program invites remarkable speakers in agriculture sector, spanning a successful agricultural figure Hery Sugiartono, and a scholar from Agricultural Academy HKTI Banyumas Muh Munawar.
The Head of East Kutai’s Diskepang, Ery Mulyadi, in his opening remarks, stated, “The agricultural land is getting eroded significantly day by day. Based on the Sustainable Food Agricultural Land Report (LP2B) released by The Ministry of Agriculture, the total agricultural land that farmers cultivate remains 2,500 hectares.”
Ery mentioned that this phenomenon is driven by the massive land use change in the country. People flocked to transform their agricultural land into mining and plantations. Moreover, the presence of Indonesia’s New Capital (IKN) also will bring a new challenge to the sector.
For these reasons, Ery Mulyadi stated, “Starting from today, we will optimize the existing resource for the downstream sector, namely by cultivating rice grain.”
To increase the competitiveness of the local product, Ery hopes that all parties can bring value added to the product.
“Leave the traditional mindset to distribute or sell our product in the form of raw material. We hope our downstream agricultural product can compete in the market. However, this effort means nothing without the support of society, we hope our goal, namely to achieve welfare, can be materialized together,” voiced Ery in the official release.
