REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- The Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) is encouraging eastern Indonesian businessmen to be part of the chili planting business to ensure the success of the 50 million chili seed planting program. "We plan to encourage businessmen, particularly those from eastern Indonesia, to engage in the chili planting business," Kadin Deputy Chief for Eastern Indonesia Andi Rukman stated here on Friday.
As a businessman, Rukman said he did not agree to raise the question of soaring chili prices in the political sphere but will help the government find a viable solution to the problem. Rukman revealed his plan to meet the agriculture minister to discuss how businessmen can cooperate with farmers to find a solution to the chili problem.
He noted that eastern Indonesia has a large area of idle land, which is suitable to develop the chili industry in future. The agriculture minister has launched a 50 million chili seed planting program which he envisions will help to curb the poverty rate in the country.
He said 10 million of the chili seeds would come from the government and would be distributed among regions in the country, with the aim of meeting the national chili demand, curbing inflation rates, and reducing the poverty rate.