(HKTI) is ready to be held on 28 – 30 June 2018 at the Jakarta Convention Center (JCC), Jakarta. The press release from the 2018 ASAFF Committee received by Republika.co.id, Monday (25/6) stated that ASAFF 2018 carries the theme “Transforming Challenges into Opportunities: Agricultural Innovation and Food Security”. There are five main program activities, namely the Asian Food Conference, the Asian Agricultural Exhibition, the Business Forum, the Food Festival, and the Agricultural Innovation Award.
The Asian Agriculture and Food Forum (ASAFF) event organized by Himpunan Kerukunan Tani Indonesia (HKTI) is ready to be held on June 28-30 2018 at the Jakarta Convention Center (JCC), Jakarta.
The press release from the 2018 ASAFF Committee received by Republika.co.id, Monday (25/6) stated that ASAFF 2018 will carry the theme “Transforming Challenges into Opportunities: Agricultural Innovation and Food Security”. There are five main program activities, namely the Asian Food Conference, the Asian Agricultural Exhibition, the Business Forum, the Food Festival, and the Agricultural Innovation Award.
The international conference on agriculture and food security will present a number of competent sources from within the country and a number of Asian countries. HKTI Chairperson Moeldoko and Stephen Rudgard from FAO representing Indonesia and Timor Leste will be keynote speakers. The theme they will present is Agricultural Innovation System to Enhance Food Security.
In his statement, Moeldoko stated that HKTI held the 2018 Asian Agriculture and Food Forum to build food and agriculture strength in Asian countries. “Through the ASAFF event and the conference which talks about agriculture, innovation and the latest industrial issues related to food security threats and also water security, we hope together that we will lead to a better Asian condition,” said Moeldoko who is also Chief of Staff to the President of the Republic Indonesia.
Chairman of the ASAFF Steering Committee, Bambang Budi Waluyo added, all the preparations for the event including the conference were ready to be carried out. “There are already hundreds of conference participants who have registered both in person and via online and social media to the committee,” he said.
He revealed that the conference which will take place all day on June 28 2018 will feature around 15 speakers consisting of experts, policy holders, entrepreneurs and agricultural practitioners. One of the foreign sources is Sazzard Parwez from the Indian Institute of Health Management Research, Jaipur, India.
There will be four conference sessions held at ASAFF, namely on Agricultural Innovation Systems in Asian Countries, The Role of Businesses and Companies in the Agricultural Chain, Socio-political Dimensions in Agriculture and Food Security, then Agriculture and the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
According to the 2018 ASAFF Organizing Committee Chair, Winston P Simanjuntak, a number of Asian countries through their ambassadors in Jakarta expressed their strong support for this forum. They hope that this activity can take place regularly because it is very useful as a forum for communication and socialization of the development and development of agriculture and food in their respective countries. A number of countries will participate in the ASAFF conference and exhibition.
According to Moeldoko, this event is also a form of HKTI’s support as a partner of the government towards the target of achieving food self-sufficiency by the Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Indonesia in 2018. National food self-sufficiency aims to meet national food demand. After that, the government also aspires to become the main food supplier in the world in 2045.
“This target can be realized by considering the large amount of existing resources, including the large biodiversity and agricultural ecosystems, the vast potential of fertile land for agriculture, the abundance of labor, the availability of innovation and technology, and the large potential of domestic and international markets,” he explained.
The Indonesian government’s agricultural development achievements have also received appreciation from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). The UN food agency assesses that Indonesia has an opportunity to export its agricultural products with an increase in production. However, according to FAO, to market agricultural products abroad, the product itself must be competitive, efficient, specific, and organic.
FAO hopes that Indonesia can become a promoter of low external input sustainable agriculture (Leisa) and organic farming systems. Leisa is a sustainable farming system with low external input and optimizes the efficient use of local resources. This, among others, will be discussed in the 2018 ASFF HKTI.
The 2018 ASAFF activities will be enlivened by several programs such as agricultural exhibition, food safety and agricultural innovation conferences, business forum, food festival, and the Agriculture Innovation Award. During the exhibition, various activities were held in the form of talkshow, sharing sessions, works by millennial farmers, works by women farmers, Indonesian and Asian food festivals, as well as edutainment, various educational programs that are packaged attractively and entertainingly.
Source: https://republika.co.id/berita/ekonomi/pertanian/18/06/27/payk96374-asaff-2018-siap-digelar
