Even in the Covid-19 pandemic, Arsopura Village Farmers, Skanto District, Keerom Regency, Papua, conducted the first harvest of dried corn. The total responsibility of the initial crop is estimated to be 60 tons.

The inaugural harvest received the appreciation of the Acting Regent of Keerom, Dr. Muhammad Ridwan Rumasukun, SE, MM who was directly present to inaugurate the harvest on the 12 hectares.

"I really appreciate the implementation of the first harvest of corn in Arsopura. Because this can move farmers to remain productive amid the economic conditions affected by Covid-19," he said.

Meanwhile, the corn crop has been planted since February 2020.

Head of Keerom District Agriculture and Fisheries Office, Sunar said at the time, farmers had previously had difficulty marketing their crops in the form of secondary crops because the purchasing power of the community was declining.

Seeing this, he also took the initiative to find a solution and find if there is an opportunity to grow dried corn whose market is wide open in Blitar Regency, East Java.

"After refocusing and budget reallocation, 7 billion IDR was available to overcome the economic impact of Covid-19 which was then realized to buy corn seeds, pesticides, planting and harvesting tools. There are 64 farming groups that carry out the activities of corn centers using funds from the reallocation of covid-19 budget. A total of 1,128 farmers were involved in this activity," Sunar said.

Arsopura is one of 38 villages in Keerom that carry out a corn center program with a total land area of 1,000 hectares.

In this program, the Agriculture and Fisheries Department of Keerom prepares planting machines, seeds, fertilizers, machinery for harvesting corn and tools to reduce water content in corn from budget reallocation results for the impact of Covid-19.