UNS — Faculty of Agriculture (FP) Universitas Sebelas Maret (UNS) Surakarta held a National Seminar on Indonesia Agricultural Outlook 2022. The seminar was held offline in G.P.H. Haryo Mataram Auditorium UNS on Tuesday (21/12/2021) and is available virtually through the Zoom platform and Faculty of Agriculture UNS YouTube channel, and Solopos TV.
The Chief of Managing Committee, Dr. Agung Wibowo, S.P., M.Si., stated that this seminar is important to provide a general description for the community, especially agricultural activistss, on the future of agricultural strategy. The seminar is also expected to bring new strategies in the agricultural sector after the Covid-19 pandemic.
“History has proved that the agricultural sector has a rich contribution and become the savior of the state economy. The government’s role as a policymaker is vital in advancing agricultural development,” Dr. Agung stated.
The national seminar was attended by the Coordinating Minister for Economy Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia, Airlangga Hartarto, and the Minister for Agriculture of the Republic of Indonesia, Syahrul Yasin Limpo. As a keynote speaker, Airlangga Hartarto explained that the agricultural sector was resilient in facing the Covid-19 pandemic, marked by Indonesia’s 107.18 Agricultural Exchange (Nilai Tukar Pertanian-NTP) in November 2021, 3% food inflation, and a 4.3% increase in agricultural sector export from January to November 2021.
“Agricultural sector always becomes a sector that could survive as the economic pillar in various crises in 1998, 2008, and today’s Covid-19 crisis,” he stated.
The government targeted 3.6% to 4% agricultural sector growth in 2022 through various strategic programs in the food and agribusiness sectors. These programs include stabilizing the price and supply of foods, developing horticulture region for export, developing closed-loop horticulture partnership, revitalizing local people palm oil plantation, developing integrated farming system, developing seaweed industry, achieving labor-intensive agriculture and fishery, improving subsidized fertilizer through a membership card, controlling land usage switch, and developing farmer-fishermen corporation.
These programs will be aligned with agricultural development strategies that support food resilience and improve sustainably competitiveness implemented by the Ministry of Agriculture. The Minister of Agriculture, Syahrul Yasin Limpo, explained that the five-development strategy consists of increasing production capacity, diversifying local food sources, strengthening food reserves and logistics systems, developing modern farming, and three times exports movement.
Government and University Collaboration
Syahrul Yasin Limpo added that collaboration between the government and the university is vital in succeeding in the explained strategies. Academic views are needed as a suggestion for agricultural development in the future. “This needs collective efforts,” he stated.
The third speaker, Prof. Dr. Ir. Bustanul Arifin, M.Sc. from the Institute for Development of Economics and Finance (INDEF), highlighted the challenges faced by Indonesia, including climate change and agricultural disparity. He also hoped that the university could assist the government in solving the challenges through various means, such as modern agricultural technology.
“The point for university is the possibility of technology that could adapt the weather or other technology to adapt the disparity because there is a wide disparity in Indonesia, this kind of technology will be invaluable for the agricultural sector,” he added.
The National Seminar was concluded with the launching of Kisah Inspiratif 50 Alumni Fakultas Pertanian UNS (Inspirative Stories of 50 Faculty of Agriculture UNS Alumni). Humas UNS
Reporter: Ida Fitriyah
Editor: Dwi Hastuti