President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) inspected the rice harvest in Baji Pamai Village, Maros Kota Subdistrict, Maros Regency, South Sulawesi. This review is a series of government work in ensuring food availability in the upcoming fasting month and Eid al-Fitr in a safe position.

There, the President also held a direct dialogue with farmers regarding productivity and the planting season. It is known that the South Sulawesi harvest has a surplus of up to 2 million tons with an average productivity of 6 tons per hectare. Thus, the rice needs there are sufficient until Eid.

“I came to Maros Regency to ensure that as the rice barn of South Sulawesi, we now see that Maros has begun to harvest and we hope that the surplus can be brought to other provinces that need it,” said the President, Thursday, March 30, 2023.

The President admitted that he is satisfied because the harvest in Maros is fairly high even though some time ago it was hit by floods which caused productivity to drop to 5.5 tons per hectare. But it can still be improved in the next planting season considering that the seeds used are Inpari 32 hybrid seeds.

“This is why it is 5.5 tons per hectare because it was flooded twice so it is somewhat lower but 5.5 tons is also a good result. But once again, the most important thing is that the harvest in South Sulawesi can really bring a lot of surplus so that it can be brought to other provinces,” he said.

Minister of Agriculture Syahrul Yasin Limpo (SYL) ensured that his office is ready to implement the president’s directive in increasing productivity. Especially in mitigating the weather to avoid floods that cause a decline in production. Including in providing assistance, access to financing and mechanization technology intervention.

“I am saying here that we must have support from all parties. I hope banks will also enter massively to facilitate KUR services,” he said.

For information, the rice harvest in South Sulawesi in March 2023 reached 139,622 hectares with an estimated production of 692,911 tons of milled dry grain (MDG) or the equivalent of 399,085 tons of rice. Meanwhile, the estimated Indonesian rice harvest in April reached 174,609 hectares with an estimated production of 869,113 tons of MDG or equivalent to 500,839 tons of rice. As for May, the estimate reaches 85,576 hectares, with production reaching 422,188 tons of GKG or the equivalent of 243,481 tons of rice.

In general, the rice picture of South Sulawesi Province has a paddy field area of 654,818 hectares with a harvest area of 1,038,084 hectares and rice production reaching 5,360,169 tons of MDG or equivalent to 3,075,860 tons of rice.

Source: pertanian.sariagri.id