Jakarta (ANTARA) – State-Owned Enterprises Minister Erick Thohir has assured that Lampung farmers will receive assistance under Pupuk Indonesia’s Prosperity (Makmur) program and benefit from it.

The Makmur program will be very beneficial for Indonesian farmers, the minister said. The program will connect farmers with project leaders, insurance providers, financial institutions, agricultural technology, local governments, agro-inputs, and even non-subsidized fertilizers’ guarantee, he expounded.

“This Prosperity Program, us State-Owned Enterprises’s main focus lie in 40 thousand hectares for 28 thousand farmers. If this is the way, we will expedite it. Here Himbara (State-Owned Banks Association) is present; BNI (PT Bank Negara Indonesia ), BRI (Bank Rakyat Indonesia), Mandiri, for financing. Then PT Pupuk Indonesia provides assistance, gentlemen and RNI (PT Rajawalli Nusantara Indonesia) buy so that all of this becomes a healthy ecosystem,” Thohir said in Muara Putih village, South Lampung district, Lampung province on Saturday.

According to the minister, farmers who participate in the Makmur program will receive assistance that will have a positive impact on agricultural productivity and income. The program is a collaboration of state-owned enterprises, he added. Meanwhile, State-Owned Enterprises Ministerial Staff Arya Sinulingga said that the Makmur program will help farmers significantly. He then cited the example of the Agro Solution program offered by PT Pupuk Indonesia (Persero).

“Through this program, seeds will be found, fertilizer would be given, then there would be training and guidance and buyers would also be found,” he said.

This program is aimed at building an ecosystem to help farmers, he added. Moreover, from this program, farmers could get good funding and fertilizers and increase productivity by 20-30 percent, he continued.

Sinulingga said he expected farmers’ incomes to increase after participating in the Pupuk Indonesia program.

“If the price is good, the farmers will be more prosperous and better off,” he said. He then expressed the hope that the program would reach its target of 4 million hectares in the future, as envisaged by the minister.

Source: Antara News