President Holds Dialogue with Farmers in Ngawi

  Ngawi, East Java (Antara Bali) - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) held a dialogue with thousands of farmers in East Java's Ngawi district on Saturday.

          During the discussion, the President highlighted the role of farmers in realizing self-sufficiency in food during the next three years.  
     "Farmers have to work hard to increase food production because we do not want to import rice, sugar and soy anymore," President Jokowi noted.

          The head of state also brought up the problematic distribution of fertilizer and seeds when needed by the farmers.

          "The distribution of fertilizer and seeds was always problematic because the procurement is done through a tender of auction, but that will not happen again," he noted.

         President Jokowi remarked that to realize food self-sufficiency, the government will provide farmers with tractors, water pumps, fertilizer, seeds, and irrigation.

         During his visit to Ngawi to obtain first-hand information about the dredging of sediments from a dam, the President also distributed 852 hand tractors and 377 water pumps to local farmers.

         Jokowi noted that this year the government will expand the area under irrigation to 1.5 million hectares, provide farmers with corn seeds for 98 thousand hectares and soy for 70 thousand hectares. (WDY)