Agriculture Minister ready to provide maize seeds for 15,000 hectares in North Sulawesi

Manado (ANTARA) - Agriculture Minister (Mentan) Andi Amran Sulaiman is ready to assist with the distribution of maize seeds for an area of around 15,000 hectares in North Sulawesi (Sulut). “Feel free to request more from us. Earlier, the Governor of Sulut asked for maize for 15,000 hectares. I’ll provide it. I agreed immediately,” said Amran during a break in inspecting the coconut seedling site in Bengkol Ward, Manado City, on Friday. Agriculture Minister Amran assured that the seedling programme will continue and be strengthened through support from local governments. According to him, in addition to maize, the President has instructed the development of coconut, sugarcane, nutmeg, pepper, cocoa, coffee, and cashew crops across Indonesia covering 870,000 hectares. “Around one million hectares. We must oversee this,” he said. He emphasised that to support the implementation of all programmes, the government has allocated a budget of around Rp9.95 trillion, focused on providing superior seeds free of charge to the public. This step is expected to accelerate planting realisation while ensuring farmers have access to quality production inputs. “We must oversee this together. The budget is around Rp9.95 trillion or Rp10 trillion. Specifically for seedlings and free for the Indonesian people,” he stressed.