PALEMBANG, GESAHKITA COM—The Provincial Government of South Sumatra has deployed as many as 1,000 field agricultural extension agents (PPL) to 17 districts / cities to encourage increased land productivity.
South Sumatra Governor, Herman Deru said that the presence of this agricultural extension is expected to help the government in guarding the increase in agricultural productivity in South Sumatra, Palembang, Saturday, (15/05/2021)
“The recruitment process was carried out last year, and now they (agricultural extension agents) have been deployed to all districts / cities, especially to rice production centers,” he said.
He explained PPLs would assist farmers from preparing the land, planting process, fertilizing, harvesting, to post-harvesting.
Farmers will be informed about the use of technology in agriculture.
In addition, this PPL will also assist farmers if they want to get agricultural Loan from banks.
Through this effort, the Provincial Government hopes that South Sumatra can achieve the production target of 3.1 million tons of milled dry unhulled rice (GKG) by 2021 by increasing planting intensity and productivity.
In 2020, South Sumatra has been in fifth rank for national grain production, namely 2.6 million tons of GKG, or still below South Sulawesi with 4.6 million tons of GKG, West Java 9.0 million tons of GKG, Central Java 9.6 million tons of GKG and East Java 9.9 million tons of GKG.
“The most important thing about PPL is how they motivate farmers to have entrepreneurial spirit, not to become laborers in their own land,” he said.
According to him, farmers are a profession that plays an important role in the food security of a region. Moreover, South Sumatra is also ambitious to become a national food barn so that it contributes greatly to meeting the food needs of other provinces in the country.
Therefore, said Herman Deru, the provincial government is committed to continuing to provide various assistance and programs to support farmers.
Starting from agricultural tools and machinery (alsintan), distribution of fertilizers, and making canals as watery system to the rice fields using a submersible pump.
“For instance, in Muara Enim District , we will encourage farmers to be able to harvest three times in a year by making canals watery system to the rice fields using a submersible pump,” he said.(irfan)
