Worried about Drought Triggering Inflation, Luhut Prepares ‘Weapon’ Against El Nino

Jakarta, Armfalcon.com —

Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment (Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs) Luhut Binsar Panjaitan prepare a ‘weapon’ against El Nino which has the potential to make Indonesia dry to the point of being flogged food inflation.

According to him, the threat of El Nino correlates with a decline in Indonesian agricultural production. In fact, food inflation contributed greatly to overall inflation.

“Not to mention the broad impact on Indonesian inflation due to the large contribution of food inflation to overall inflation. This is because it is estimated that 41 percent of paddy fields experienced extreme drought that year,” Luhut said on his official Instagram account, Wednesday (26/4).

He emphasized that the government would be prepared to face the most extreme threat. Luhut asked all ministries/agencies (K/L) and local governments to start preparing for a ‘war’ against El Nino from an early age.

“I ask all related Ministries/Agencies as well as local governments to start preparing early, taking into account all the steps that must be taken so that the bad experience of 8 years ago does not happen again. At least from now on we are preparing weather modification technology as a weapon against El Nino,” he said. .

Luhut refuses to be caught off guard like in 2015, when Indonesia was hit by El Nino and hit by widespread drought and forest fires in several regions of Indonesia. Moreover, he has pocketed a prediction when El Nino will occur, namely in August 2023.

He is reluctant to repeat the bad experience eight years ago in Indonesia. Therefore, Luhut directs all stakeholders to calculate all the steps that must be taken in dealing with El Nino this time.

Luhut then quoted data from the World Food Program which stated that 3 out of 5 households lost income due to drought. In addition, 1 in 5 households had to reduce spending on food as a result of the drought.

“Let’s all stay alert and take care of each other in difficult times like this so we can reduce the losses incurred due to weather changes together for the benefit of the Indonesian people as a whole,” he stated.

[Gambas:Instagram]

(skt/pta)