Jakarta (ANTARA) - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) urged ministries and agencies to beware of the impact of climate change that could hamper agricultural production during the planting and harvest seasons at the start of the year.
"Be vigilant to climate change that could possibly disrupt the planned planting and harvest seasons. Thus, calculations regarding safe conditions and strategic food reserves must be carried out well," he stated at the plenary cabinet meeting at the State Palace here on Tuesday.
Jokowi drew the attention of all ministries and agencies to the importance of planning the planting of food crops and calculating production data to ensure the availability of food at the start of this year.
Furthermore, he pressed for food stocks and availability at the start of the year to be secured.
The president laid emphasis on the need for central and regional governments to monitor food stocks and prices in their respective regions and anticipate fluctuations.
"Prevent shortages and price increases from occurring. Thus, once again, this needs to be really monitored in every district, in every province, so that we can maintain the existing stocks and the prices remain affordable to the public," he stated.
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Jokowi also underscored the need to ensure all energy commodities, such as fuel oil and gas, are always available in each region and to prevent scarcity that can disadvantage people and raise inflation.
"Do not let one, two, three, or more districts experience scarcity of gas due to the issue of disrupted distribution," he stated.
According to the State Logistics Agency (Bulog), the government rice reserves at Bulog's warehouses at the start of the year had reached 1.6 million tons.
President Jokowi earlier encouraged the start of the planting season in December 2023 on 1.4 million hectares of rice fields nationally and then in January 2024 on 1.7 million hectares of rice fields, and in February 2024, on 1.4 million hectares of rice fields.
The planting season aims to increase rice production during the March-April 2024 period or the main harvest season in early 2024.
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Translator: Indra Arief, Raka Adji
Editor: Yuni Arisandy Sinaga
