KRKP: Stop the Use of Pesticides

Increased production of rice by the government to reach 10 million tons of food reserves in 2014. To reach this target the government of using short-term strategy with the use of high external input.

According to Said Abdullah, advocacy and networking officer, the People's Coalition for Food Sovereignty (KRKP), Wednesday (04/18/2012), in Bogor, the use of hybrid seeds, chemical fertilizers and application of pesticides to control pests and diseases do. In addition, educators and revitalization of irrigation.

This option is considered not to be able to guarantee an increase in production in the long run. Achieved self-sufficiency in 2009, just a moment. Import re-done a year later as an indication of inadequacy.

Production rates are not as targeted, only about 3 percent per year. The Government made climate change a major cause of failure. For this reason the government also announced changes to become a target of 10 million tons in 2014.

Said blames climate change is certainly not wise. Climate change is a natural phenomenon that occurred throughout the earth. Inevitably, climate change must be faced with the smart and the right strategy.

"The policy of increasing production with the use of external inputs are high, especially hybrid seeds and pesticides are mostly imported from abroad, is unfortunate," he said.

This method will only give birth to dependence, far from sustainability. Agricultural development should be more oriented towards long-term use of local resources by promoting environmentally friendly. "In this way the food sovereignty will be realized without depending on other countries and foreign corporations" said Said.

P2BN policy will not only increase production but also generate a negative impact on the environment. Rice farming ecosystems become unbalanced. Increasingly weakened capacity of the environment. This is indicated by explosion (outbreak) planthopper and stemborer pests in the year 2010-2011.