Member of the Presidential Advisory Council, Soekarwo, accompanied by the Secretary of the Wantimpres Member, Jan Prince Permata, held a meeting with the Regent of Lamongan Regency, Yuhronur Efendi, on Monday (11/12) at the Pendopo Lokatantra of Lamongan Regency. The meeting themed “Strategies and Innovations for Increasing Soybean Production in Lamongan Regency” was attended by the Regional Leadership Communication Forum (Forkopimda) and Lamongan Regency’s Regional Government Agencies.
Soekarwo expressed immense appreciation to the Lamongan Regency Government for being one of the national agricultural bases. Yuhronur Efendi, in his address, mentioned that Lamongan Regency remains one of the national granaries for commodities such as rice and soybeans, with four prominent commodities: rice, corn, fish, and cattle.
Moch Wahyudi, Acting Head of the Food Security and Agriculture Agency, stated that 40% of soybean production is utilized by households, 45% for industries, 5% for seeds, and 10% scattered during harvesting. The soybean availability not met by Lamongan Regency’s production accounts for 3,989 tons from outside the region, fulfilling only about 10% of the demand.
Based on farming analysis between the farmer scale and agribusiness scale, the production costs are lower because the provision of seeds and production facilities is subsidized by the local government. However, from a pricing perspective, high price fluctuations discourage farmers from cultivating soybeans. Farmers prefer planting corn with stable prices or water spinach, which has price guarantees from the beginning.
Global Food Security data shows that Indonesia’s Index is only 60.2, ranking 63 out of 113 countries, indicating inadequate food availability in Indonesia (the surplus from production is minimal). Ideally, there should be a minimum stock of 10% of consumption to achieve price stability. Soekarwo emphasized that the agricultural issue lies in off-taker availability, enabling price fluctuations to be controlled. To maintain food stability, the government plans to establish a Food Estate in Merauke in an effort to achieve food security in Indonesia. Improving farmers’ welfare can be done through support for agricultural production facilities and income guarantees for farmers/off-takers. Finally, he urged the Lamongan Regency Government to declare the use of organic fertilizers to enhance agricultural yields.
