IP 400 Solution for Depletion of Agricultural Land - The Ministry of Agriculture through the Directorate General of Food Crops is currently encouraging the development of IP 400 food cultivation through the OPIP (Optimization of Agricultural Index Improvement) program. It is expected that farmers can plant and harvest rice and secondary crops up to four times a year on the same stretch.
Director-General of Food Crops, Suwandi said, IP 400 is a solution to the reduction in land area due to land conversion and population growth.
There are seven IP 400 keys of them:
1. Seedling outside can be done by kidnapping, dapog, or tray systems and using short-lived seeds.
2. agricultural mechanization to save time and energy.
3. The use of chemical fertilizers is gradually reduced by adding organic fertilizers.
4. IP 400 cropping pattern 4 times a year.
5. frugal in the use of water.
6. implementing integrated farming towards zero waste.
7. downstream and market, so that there is a guarantee, corporate partnership, for financing can be through KUR.
Responding to the many doubts about the seeds for IP 400, Rachmat, Coordinator of Rice, Irrigation, and Swamp, Ministry of Agriculture, emphasized that IP 400 is not only for seeds that are very early. As in Sukoharjo, farmers use Inpari 32 seeds.
Admittedly, in some locations that carry out IP 400 activities, there are still doubts, because the seeds are very early and not yet available. Actually, there are other ways to optimize cropping, namely with culik/dapog/tray seedlings, where the seedlings are done outside the area before harvest.
"So after harvesting, we can immediately accelerate the planting. Besides that, it can also be done through the application of mechanization both during land cultivation, planting, and harvesting, so that it can optimize planting time, "said Rachmat.
Regional Appreciation
The Head of the Purwakarta Agriculture Service, Sri Jaya Midan, said that with the OPIP assistance from the Ministry of Agriculture, there were many benefits. For example, at the planting site, there is minimal pest attack due to the rotation of varieties.
"Now we are giving directives for direct tillage and nursery construction because seed assistance for MTIII has been distributed so that it runs on time," said Midanseraya, hoping that this activity will continue because it has an impact on productivity surges thanks to the OPIP program.
Although the land in Purwakarta is small compared to other districts in West Java, which is around 17 thousand ha, the local government is still committed to increasing productivity. In fact, at the beginning of July, the harvest had entered the beginning with a yield of 7.36 tons/ha, higher than the previous 6.1 tons/ha.
Meanwhile, the Head of the Sukoharjo Agriculture Service, Dyah Rilawati, admitted that it was impossible for Sukoharjo to increase the land area, the only way was to increase the cropping index and productivity. "We thank you for getting the OPIP allocation covering an area of 2,088 ha because the farmers are very enthusiastic," he said.
At first in Sukoharjo there was only 1,600 ha with IP 400 planted, but now it has increased to 400 ha. Currently, most of them have harvested MT-II and prepared for planting MT III with average productivity of 7.2 tons/ha. "God willing, we can increase the production of 15 thousand tons of GKG," said Dyah
Heri Sunarto is one of the millennial farmers in Sukoharjo who has succeeded in converting rainfed land into paddy fields through pumps and carrying out IP 400 cultivation so that he can harvest 4 times a year. He integrates rice, fish, chicken, cattle, and other agricultural commodities in one area.
According to him, the land should not be left fallow so that nutrients are not wasted and absorbed by wild plants. "The concept that after harvesting is immediately processed and planted is better than leaving it (fallow), as long as there is a combination of organic fertilizer and chemical fertilizer," said Heri.
Heri admits that the advantage after harvest is that the land is immediately cultivated again, that is, it does not give rats and other pests the chance to grow. The remaining rice/straw is turned over and then given a microbial decomposer, resulting in a decomposition process that produces nutrients.