Day: March 13, 2022

Increasing fish consumption is the easiest way to solve stunting in various regions in the country, a Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry official said.

“The easiest way for the people to fight stunting is by eating seawater, freshwater, or brackish water fish,” Director General of Strengthening the Competitiveness of Marine and Fishery Products at the Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry Artati Widiarti stated.in a written statement on Sunday.

She said that the ministry has considered stunting as a real threat to Indonesian children since it can potentially retard brain development.

Stunting can also have various long-term impacts, including mental retardation, low learning abilities, as well as the risk of chronic diseases, such as diabetes, hypertension, and obesity., she noted

“Hence, we must solve it together to realize Indonesia’s Vision 2045 (by encouraging fish consumption) of which benefit can be enjoyed by our children and grandchildren,” she continued.

Thus, she has encouraged the ministry to continue implementing Gemarikan (fond of eating fish) program in the regions which have a high prevalence of stunting.

The director general said Gemarikan program is an assistance and educational program regarding fish consumption, thus people can understand various fishery products.

“The program also aims to make people fond of eating fish,” she remarked.

Fish has a complete nutritional value which is important to help the development of the eyes and brain tissue of children under two years old.

The commodity can also provide necessary nutrition for productive age adolescents and the elderly.

In addition, fish contains vitamins and minerals which help bolster endurance and immunity, especially to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Hence, by consuming fish, we will become healthy, strong and intelligent,” Widiarti added.

Meanwhile, Head of the Center for Examining the Utilization of Marine and Fishery Products at the ministry Widya Rusyanto stated that Gemarikan program implementation in Banyumas District, Central Java, earlier had absorbed a number of fishery products made by local micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs).

The Gemarikan program will be carried out in 21 provinces from March 2022 to June 2022 to distribute 55,000 packages of Gemarikan assistance.

Earlier, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Sakti Wahyu Trenggono encouraged elementary school students to regularly eat fish to fulfil their daily nutritional needs.

Source: Antara News

Tourism and Creative Economy Minister Sandiaga Uno has encouraged the strengthening of a comprehensive creative economy ecosystem in Pacitan District, East Java Province.

One of the attempts to achieve the goal is implementing self-assessment of creative districts/cities in Indonesia (PMK3I) to identify which local prominent creative economy sub-sector can be the main locomotive to encourage the development of other economic sub-sectors, he said during an Indonesian Creative District/City (KaTa Kreatif) workshop in Pacitan as quoted from a statement on Sunday.

“It is hoped that Pacitan District can realize its economic independence by developing local strategic economic sectors,” he said i

Hence, he has expected that the implementation of the program can generate superior creative economic products.

The workshop, which was attended by 35 participants, aimed to improve the quality of creative economy actors as well as their products.

The activity is expected to establish a regional and economic sub-sector-based network of creative economy actors and related stakeholders; as well as to develop a sustainable tourism and creative economy ecosystem.

It is also hoped to increase the contribution of tourism and creative economy sectors to the national economy.

“I believe that the workshop program has been implemented based on the determined target, utilization, and time in accordance with President Joko Widodo’s directive to prepare our economic sector to face the post-pandemic economic order,” the minister stated

Hence, he expressed the hope that the COVID-19 pandemic will soon become an endemic.

Furthermore, he encouraged the improvement of the quality of crafts in tPacitan, such as earthenware and precious stones, which are considered to be the district’s superior specialty products, ahead of the post-pandemic digital economy.

“The potential of the products can be strengthened with good marketing support and improvement of the quality of the items. Creative economy players can take advantage of technology to reach a wider market,” Uno added.

Source: Antara News

Deputy Chief of the People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR) Lestari Moerdijat has appealed to stakeholders to pay serious attention to the rise in early marriage cases so that the quality of Indonesia’s human resources can continue to improve to answer the nation’s challenges in the future.

“In the midst of efforts to make this nation have an advantage over other nations, the rise of child marriage cases in the country must draw serious attention from stakeholders,” Moerdijat, said in a written statement here on Sunday.

Data from UNICEF prior to the COVID-19 pandemic estimated that over the next 10 years, 100 million children in the world would be subjected to forced marriage. This figure was predicted to increase by up to 10 percent from the current data.

Moerdijat listed a number of factors which contribute to the high rate of child marriage cases in Indonesia. Among them are inadequate level of education, low socioeconomic status, and relatively little information about the risks of early marriage, as well as misconceptions about early marriage which spread rampantly on social media.

She opined that everyone must immediately put on strategic measures to address the issue of child marriage which was raised by the many factors she had listed.

“Apart from affecting the nation’s future due to the disruption of efforts to improve the quality of human resources, marriage of children under 19 years old is a violation of the law,” Moerdijat reminded.

She stressed that the practice was not in accordance with Law Number 16 of 2019 concerning Amendments to Law Number 1 of 1974 regarding Marriage.

On the other hand, child marriage posed risks to the health of young mothers and their children, she said adding it could also affect their psychological well-being.

She deemed the high health risk in child marriage should be a reason for the stakeholders to immediately combat this threat through massive and sustainable efforts to resolve the triggering factors.

Source: Antara News

The Public Works and Public Housing (PUPR) Ministry is trying to expedite the construction of Lubuk Linggau – Curup – Bengkulu toll road to improve the local economy and connectivity.

“The construction of the toll road will reduce logistics costs and delivery time of goods and services. In addition, the infrastructure will encourage the growth of new economic centers,” PUPR Minister Basuki Hadimuljono said in a statement on Sunday.

The Lubuk Linggau – Curup – Bengkulu toll road, which is a part of the Trans Sumatra Toll Road, has a length of 95.8 kilometers (km).

The road is managed by state-run toll road business entity (BUJT) PT Hutama Karya (Persero).

It is divided into three sections, including Lubuk Linggau – Kepahiang section (54.5 km), Kepahiang – Taba Penanjung section (23.7 km), and Taba Penanjung – Bengkulu section (17.6 km).

“The construction progress of the Taba Penanjung – Bengkulu section has reached 96.51 percent. The section is targeted to be completed and operated in near future. Meanwhile, the Lubuk Linggau – Kepahiang and Kepahiang – Taba Penanjung sections are still in the preparation stage,” the minister informed.

He expressed the hope the construction of the toll road, which is integrated with the development of the Baai Port, can benefit the local government, businessmen, and the community to increase the regional economy and facilitate the tourists visiting Bengkulu Province.

“It will only take about one to two hours to travel from Lubuk Linggau City (in South Sumatra Province) to Bengkulu City (in Bengkulu Province) through the road,” he said.

Hadimuljono said that his party continues to expedite the construction of infrastructures which connect production centers to areas that have great development potentials.

In addition, the construction of infrastructures can open new business opportunities, create jobs, and accelerate added value for the people’s economy.

Meanwhile, the total length of Trans Sumatra Toll Road network is 2,837 km. It consists of a 1,913-km main toll road and a 924-km feeder toll road.

Source: Antara News

The Religious Affairs Ministry allows business players to spend their product packaging stocks which still use the halal label stipulated by Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) before adjusting to the application of Indonesian Halal Label.

Actually, the application of the new halal label has come into effect since March 1, 2022.

“Business actors whose products have received halal certificates prior to the operation of the Halal Product Assurance Agency (BPJPH) and still have packaging stocks with halal labels stipulated by MUI are allowed to use up the stocks first,” Head of the ministry’s BPJPH Aqil Irham informed in a statement received here on Sunday.

However, once the stocks have been used up, the business players must immediately include the new Indonesian Halal Label stipulated by the agency on their product packaging in accordance with the regulations, he said.

The application of the new label has been regulated in the Decree of the BPJPH Head Number 40 of 2022 concerning the Stipulation of Halal Labels as an implementation of the mandate of Article 37 of Law Number 33 of 2014 on Halal Product Guarantee (JPH).

The government noted that prior to the effective date of the new label application, many business actors still produced their old product packaging with the MUI halal label.

Hence, Irham said that the decision allowing business players to use up the old packaging is a convenience from the government for business actors in the transitional period for halal certification program.

Earlier, halal certification was conducted voluntarily. However, currently, it has become a mandatory program.

“The government certainly understands the conditions faced by the business players. Hence, please create the new product packaging stock according to the provisions,” the BPJPH head appealed.

Previously, he said that President Joko Widodo targeted Indonesia to become the international hub for halal industry in 2024.

Source: Antara News

The Tourism and Creative Economy Ministry has provided sports equipment assistance to support tourism activities in Sendang Tourism Village, Pacitan District, East Java Province.

“I tried to play beach volleyball earlier, however it turned out that the ball and the net were damaged. Hence, I called the tourism village team to provide new equipment,” Tourism and Creative Economy Minister Sandiaga Uno said in an official statement quoted on Sunday.

According to the statement, the famous tourism attractions in the village are Klayar Beach and Ngiroboyo Beach. In addition, visitors can enjoy river tourism at the estuary of the Ngiroboyo river.

Due to the large amount of water surrounding it, the village was named ‘Sendang’ which is taken from a name of a spring.

The village is located 29 kilometers (km) from the downtown of Pacitan District and can be reached in about an hour by car.

According to the official page of Tourism Village Network (Jadesta) of the ministry, Ngiroboyo beach was originally only a place for herding cows and collecting the grass since the access to the location was limited as there was only a footpath.

Hence, in 2007, the community improved the infrastructure, thus the roads could be used by vehicles.

A number of events, such as rowing competitions, were also held to attract visitors. Gradually, the place became a tourism destination.

Furthermore, parking lots, stalls, gazebos, outbound park, and selfie spots were established to facilitate the visitors. Various beach games were also provided.

In addition, the people in Sendang Village sell a lot of souvenirs, such as ‘kacang selimut’ (sweet snack filled with nuts), powdered palm sugar, as well as batik cloth.

However, it is expected that the souvenir packaging can be made more attractive to increase demand for the products.

Hence, Culinary Packaging Design (BEDAKAN) Program implemented by the ministry is hoped to be able to assist the micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) players in the tourism village to produce more attractive products.

Source: Antara News