Agriculture Minister engages students to oversee sustainable national food self-sufficiency
Jakarta (ANTARA) - Agriculture Minister and Head of the National Food Agency Andi Amran Sulaiman is partnering with students to oversee the nation’s sustainable food self-sufficiency through monitoring programmes and tangible contributions to drive economic impacts for society, the nation, and the state.
Amran stated that students are key in determining the nation’s future direction, including maintaining the sustainability of the national agricultural sector.
“Because they will lead later, replacing us. Future leaders. We must fill them with positive things,” said Agriculture Minister Amran during a discussion with several Student Executive Boards (BEM) from various universities across Indonesia in Jakarta on Wednesday.
In the forum attended by around 100 student representatives, the Minister emphasised the importance of building cross-generational collaboration from an early stage. He noted that development cannot be carried out by the government alone without involving the younger generation.
“This cannot be built by us alone, but requires collaboration. We involve students, we inform them of the government’s flagship programmes, their objectives, and what has been achieved today,” he said.
He also encouraged young people to strengthen nationalism and become successors to agricultural development programmes. Therefore, the younger generation must be prepared now to continue national development sustainably.
“My children, you must be confident, you are great. Hang your aspirations as high as possible, pursue them, don’t stay still. You determine your own fate. You will continue our struggle against mafias and parties that harm the nation,” he stressed.
Amran added that students have an important role in overseeing various government programmes. According to the Minister, criticism from various parties, including students, is needed, but it must be constructive and based on current information and data.
“If there is something wrong, let’s perfect it. We want to convey factual data. The country needs constructive criticism. Previously, I promised self-sufficiency in 4 years, it changed to 1 year, and this year we have achieved self-sufficiency,” he said.
Therefore, in the discussion, the Minister also affirmed that various strategic government programmes are prepared not only to meet current needs but also as a foundation for future generations.
One of them is the development of agricultural downstreaming. The Minister revealed the potential of downstreaming in the agricultural sector, including strategic commodities like palm oil, which will become a vast space managed by the younger generation in the future.
“This palm oil is for the younger generation later, we process it, we downstream it, the added value is extraordinary. Its value is approximately Rp1,000 trillion. And that is for the state, for them (farmers) later,” he said.
He further emphasised that Indonesia’s future is in the hands of today’s students. “Who will continue it, if not the students,” he said.