Jakarta – President Joko Widodo instructed all ministries and state agencies to prioritize basic needs as public supply during the process of controlling the spread of Covid-19 in Indonesia.

“We need to help farmers, day workers, laborers, fishermen and SMEs so that the purchasing power is maintained and they keep active and productive,” said Jokowi in a press release related to the handling Covid-19 at the State Palace, Jakarta, Tuesday, March 24, 2020 ,

On this occasion, the head of state also demanded that all parties do refocusing activities and reallocating budgets for handling Covid-19. Said the President, this has legal basis in the form of a signed Presidential Decree No. 4 of 2020.

“Besides ordering for the refocusing and reallocation, this Instruction ordered the acceleration of the procurement of goods and services to support the acceleration of Covid-19 handling,” Jokowi said.

Earlier, the President stated that so far Indonesian food stocks are enough to meet the needs of 267 million people in Indonesia. For that, he hopes that people do not need to be panic, especially when facing the corona virus pandemic.

Although it is enough, the President still requested that his staff continue to give certainty of the availability and stability of the prices of goods which are other necessary basic needs of society.

In this regard, the Minister of Agriculture Syahrul Yasin Limpo on various occasions also requested that agricultural production continues to run even boosted up many times over.

Moreover, the sector has a huge potential to grow the national economy.

“The presence of a virus outbreak disaster Covid-19 should not be made to stop agricultural activity. Kementan will continue to optimize human resources to boost production and productivity and even export,” he concluded.

Source : Ministry of Agriculture RI