Auckland, New Zealand (ANTARA) - Indonesian Vice President (Wapres) Ma'ruf Amin stated that Indonesia has the potential to reduce beef imports by developing cattle farms in Sulawesi, Kalimantan, and East Nusa Tenggara (NTT).
"We have quite large areas in Sulawesi, Kalimantan, and NTT with their large grasslands. I think we can achieve (meat) self-sufficiency," Amin stated during his working visit to Wellington, New Zealand, on Thursday.
The vice president remarked that relevant authorities in Indonesia had begun a planning process for developing cattle livestock in Kalimantan, Sulawesi, and NTT as an effort to reduce beef imports.
The National Food Agency (Bapanas) has decided that the import volume of beef meat for 2024 will be at 145,250.60 tons based on the results of a recalculation of the volume of beef imports for regular consumption.
In addition, Amin said that the Ministry of Agriculture is developing a blue cattle breeding project from Belgium to support meat self-sufficiency in Indonesia.
Historically, Belgian Blue cattle originated from cross-breeding of Shorthorn or Durham cattle with the local Belgian cattle. Cows resulting from this crossing have a bluish skin color, so they are called Belgian Blue.
Amin stated that the cow, with a large body posture, weighs similar to the Limousin cow.
The Indonesian government is targeting beef self-sufficiency by 2026 through various efforts to accelerate the increase in cattle population.
During President Joko Widodo's (Jokowi's) administration, the Ministry of Agriculture has issued policies to increase births, improve feed quality, and control disease in cattle through efforts including Minister of Agriculture Regulation Number 48 of 2016 concerning Special Efforts to Accelerate Increases in Cow and Pregnant Populations (Upsus Siwab).
Furthermore, the ministry issued Regulation Number 17 of 2020 concerning Increasing the Production of Cattle and Buffalo as Mainland Commodities (Sikomandan).
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Translator: Andi Firdaus, Resinta Sulistiyandari
Editor: Azis Kurmala
