REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- The 8th President of RI General TNI (Purn) Prabowo Subianto delivered his speech after the inauguration process at the Parliament Complex, Senayan, Central Jakarta, Sunday (20/10/2024). Among the contents of his speech, Prabowo stressed about the goal to make Indonesia achieve food self-sufficiency.

“I have proposed that Indonesia should immediately have food self-sufficiency in the shortest possible time. I believe that in four or five years at the latest we will be self-sufficient in food, even we are ready to become the food granary of the world,” Prabowo said in remarks after reciting the presidential oath at the MPR/DPR Complex in RI.

Prabowo stressed that Indonesia is a rich country with abundant natural resources. Thus, Indonesia is able to meet its own needs by utilizing existing resources, so as not to depend on other countries, especially in food matters.

“We must not depend on external sources of food, in a crisis, in a precarious situation, no one will allow us to buy their goods, because there is no other way in such a short time as we have to achieve food security,” Prabowo said.

He stressed that Indonesia must be able to produce and meet the food needs of all Indonesian people without exception. Prabowo said that in his later leadership, he strongly believed that food self-sufficiency could really be realized.

One way to make this happen is to learn a lot from the experts in realizing those ideals. “I have studied with the experts who helped me, I believe (food self-sufficiency will be realized in 2028 or 2029,” the defense minister said.

Energy Self-sufficiency

In addition to food self-sufficiency, in his speech, Prabowo also revealed about energy self-sufficiency. Indonesia also believes that it should have reached this target, given the global conditions full of uncertainty.

“In a state of tension in a state of probable war everywhere, we must be prepared for the worst eventualities. Other countries have to think about their own interests, if something undesirable happens, it is difficult for us to get energy sources from other countries. Therefore, we must be energy self-sufficient and we can afford to be energy self-sufficient,” he said.

The General Chairman of the Gerindra Party said that Indonesia is gifted by God with a lot of potential to achieve energy self-sufficiency. For example, crops such as palm oil are capable of producing diesel and gasoline. There is also cassava, sugarcane, sago, and corn.

'We've also got enough geothermal underground energy, we've got very much coal we've got energy from enormous water. The government I lead will focus on achieving energy self-sufficiency,” he stressed. 

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