First maritime and fishery school

First maritime and fishery school

YOGYAKARTA: Yogyakarta's Gadjah Mada University (UGM) plans to
open a maritime and fishery school that will serve as the
country's think tank for maritime legislation and marine
resources exploitation.

UGM Rector Sofian Effendi told a fishing seminar in Yogyakarta
on Monday that as a counterpart of the government and the fishing
industry, the school would prepare maritime personnel and develop
maritime technology.

The nation's oldest university will thus help create the legal
framework for resources utilization, qualified personnel for
maritime management and suitable technology for sustainable
exploitation of maritime resources.

"Indonesia's marine wealth potential stands at 6.2 million
tons of fish a year and this capacity has not been utilized to a
high degree of economic efficiency," the rector added. -- Antara

NTB registers rice surplus

MATARAM, West Nusa Tenggara: With rice production at over 700,000
tons last year, West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) registered a big surplus
and has since supplied rice to several neighboring provinces.

NTB Governor Harun Al Rasyid reported to the provincial
legislative council in Mataram on Monday that his region produced
1.4 tons of dry unhusked rice (GKG) last year, equivalent to
735,393 tons of rice.

In terms of output, NTB had a surplus of 184,213 tons after
local consumption of 551,180 tons, enabling it to cover the rice
shortages of neighboring provinces, like East Nusa Tenggara,
Papua and Maluku.

Apart from paddy and secondary crops, NTB is also known as a
major horticultural producer, with increasing paprika and tomato
exports from East Lombok to Singapore and Hong Kong. -- Antara

Gorontalo promotes 'Agropolitan' campaign

GORONTALO, Gorontalo: Gorontalo is launching a crop planting
campaign called 'Agropolitan' Program with the support of all
secondary and elementary schools in the province.

Head of the province's education office Irvan Mbuinga said
here on Monday that the region had at least 120 secondary schools
and 820 primary schools in two regencies and a municipality, with
school yards large enough for planting.

The schools have a total combined area of 470 hectares of idle
land, where crops such as corn can be planted under the
provincial program, for local consumption as well as for study
purposes.

So far, most of the schools grow various flowers, "they should
now turn to crops with economic value, which at the same time
prepares the students to become professional agribusiness
people," he added. -- Antara