Jakarta, hitclubapk3 Indonesia
—
Chairman of the National Economic Council (DEN)
Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan
asks universities to play an active role in increasing national garlic productivity through research on superior seeds that are adaptive to climate change.
Luhut made this request when speaking at the Solo Investment Festival in Solo, Friday (12/12).He believes that the garlic problem is not only related to the amount of production, but also the quality of the seeds used by farmers.
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“Speaking of garlic, we have to talk about the quality of the seeds we have. Not just the quantity, but the quality and adaptability to climate change,” said Luhut.
Luhut encouraged universities in Central Java and the Special Region of Yogyakarta to conduct more targeted research regarding the development of garlic.
He said that a number of campuses such as Sebelas Maret University (UNS), Diponegoro University (Undip), and Gadjah Mada University (UGM) had the academic capacity to support this research.
“Sebelas Maret University, Diponegoro University, for example, is studying soils at a height of one thousand meters which are suitable for garlic seeds,” he said.
In particular, Luhut touched on UGM’s role in focusing more on agricultural research which has a direct impact on national needs.
“UGM, don’t just worry about diplomas. You guys do a study, where in Central Java can we grow garlic,” he said.
Apart from encouraging the role of campuses, Luhut revealed that he had carried out independent research to look for new garlic varieties using the genome sequencing method.The research was carried out in the Lake Toba area, North Sumatra, at an altitude of around 1,400 meters above sea level.
“It’s not expensive. It’s my own pocket money, which is the strongest. There are our young professors who can do it,” he said.
He claims the research is starting to show positive results.According to Luhut, this research has produced garlic seed varieties with higher productivity.
“They are doing genome sequencing research, I just need to facilitate them. Now they have reached the end, starting production into seeds with higher yields,” he said.
Luhut assesses that increasing domestic garlic productivity has great potential to reduce imports.Currently, the import value of Indonesian garlic seeds reaches US$770 million or the equivalent of around IDR 12.8 trillion.
“If it could be (reduced) by 50 percent in stages, it would be equal to US$350 million. That’s almost 4 trillion rupiah,” said Luhut.
(del/rds)
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