FAO DG Qu Dongyu and Indonesian Minister of Agriculture Syahrul Yassin Limpo exchanged gifts after the bilateral meeting

Digitalization encompasses all stages in the agrifood systems, including food production, distribution, trade, processing and consumption. Indonesia is now pulling all its efforts to transform rural areas through digitalization that can facilitate smallholders' integration into markets to foster sustainable income and improve livelihoods.

Indonesia's rural transformation through digitalization was highlighted at a meeting between FAO Director General Qu Dongyu and the Indonesian Minister of Agriculture Syahrul Yassin Limpo on the sidelines of the G20 Agriculture Ministerial Meeting in Jimbaran Bali (27/9).

FAO Director General reaffirmed his support to Indonesia’s efforts to develop a national e– agriculture strategy including guidance on agriculture data integrity in the use of geospatial information.

“Digitalization plays an important role in accelerating progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals by diversifying incomes and unlocking on-farm and off-farm employment and business opportunities, especially for the new generation of farmers and young people,” said FAO Director General.

The Director General praised the establishment of Indonesia’s Agriculture Control Room (Agriculture War Room), which uses advanced digital technologies to improve data and evidence-based decision-making.

“In the current Industry 4.0 era, agricultural activities no longer rely on manual labor but combine mechanization with digital technology that can condition agricultural cultivation businesses to be more precise,” the Indonesian Minister of Agriculture said.

FAO timely response to Emergency

In the meeting the Minister shared his views on the Ministry of Agriculture's cooperation with FAO in animal health sector. The cooperation is focusing on One Health approach to address Emerging Infectious Diseases (EID) and Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR).

The Minister expressed his gratitude for FAO's quick response to the technical support provided to fight Lumpy Skin Disease (LSD) outbreak in Sumatra province early this year followed by the outbreak of Foot-and-Mouth Disease (FMD) in almost 34 provinces.

The Minister also thanked FAO for its timely action to assist the farmers in East Sumba that have been battling against locust outbreak, which affected most of the green leaves and generated damages to corn, rice and vegetable crops causing severe food insecurity.

In the meeting FAO DG also thanked Indonesia for the longstanding collaboration with FAO to sustainbly transform agrifood systems.

FAO hopes that Indonesia's prominent role in the Southeast Asian region will help bring the importance of agrifood systems transformation into the limelight as a regional priority.

Indonesia became a member of FAO in 1948 and the Representation was established in 1978. Collaboration between FAO and Indonesia across the food and agricultural sectors, including in fisheries and forestry has strengthened over the last several decades.

As of today, over 650 projects and programs have been implemented by FAO throughout Indonesia with the assistance of more than 1600 experts and consultants, both national and international.