Jakarta, (Antara) - At least five factors, such as irrigation, agricultural machinery, fertilizers, seeds, and agricultural extension influence the development of Indonesian agriculture and impact the yield, stated Minister of Agriculture Andi Amran Sulaiman.
"In Indonesia, 52 percent of the country's irrigation infrastructure is damaged. As a result of our hard work, there are now 1.37 million hectares of tertiary irrigation systems. Hopefully, this year, we can achieve the target of 2 million hectares," the minister stated in Banda Aceh on Tuesday night. With regard to agricultural machinery, he affirmed that Indonesia still lagged far behind the required standards in terms of quantity and quality.
In comparison with other countries such as Myanmar, Indonesia only has one-tenth of the required agricultural machinery.
In fact, Sulaiman remarked that Indonesia is a large country, with a huge population working as farmers.
The Ministry is making efforts to distribute more agricultural machinery to encourage the farmers to optimally cultivate their agricultural land.
The Ministry of Agriculture has distributed 40 thousand units of agricultural machinery in several areas. He revealed that the figure rose sharply from about three to four thousand units of agricultural machinery distributed last year.(*)
