Support National Food Security, Ministry Of PUPR Performs Irrigation Modernization This Way

Secretary General of the Ministry of PUPR Mohammad Zainal Fatah. (Photo: Doc. ANTARA)

The Ministry of Public Works and Public Housing (PUPR) said that the implementation of irrigation modernization is one of the efforts to support national food and water security.

"We need to modernize irrigation to increase the reliability of irrigation services to be more effective, efficient, and sustainable beyond the original planning," said PUPR Ministry Secretary General Mohammad Zainal Fatah in his official statement, quoted Friday, October 20.

Zainal said that Indonesia currently has an irrigation area (DI) covering an area of 9,136,028 ha.

In order to support national food security, the Government of Indonesia has made various efforts, including the construction and development of a new irrigation network, improving operating governance and maintenance of irrigation networks, and rehabilitation to restore the function of irrigation networks.

The modernization of irrigation is carried out through improvement activities and reliability updates in the provision of irrigation water, improvement of irrigation facilities and infrastructure, improvement of irrigation management systems, strengthening irrigation management institutions, and empowerment of human resources.

"Through the modernization of irrigation, we expect improvement and overall improvement of irrigation services, especially in the irrigation network managed by local governments. So, it is hoped that agricultural productivity can increase in order to achieve food security and community welfare," he said.

He said the implementation of irrigation modernization had begun in Rentang, West Java, which irrigates an agricultural area of 87,840 ha in three districts, namely Majalengka Regency, Cirebon Regency, and Indramayu Regency, by utilizing the Cimanuk River discharge.

"With the modernization that has been carried out, it is estimated that by 2025 it can increase the planting index by 280 percent in three regencies supported in the Range," he said.

In addition to modernizing dams, Zainal added, in order to help increase food production, the Ministry of PUPR has built 61 dams during 2014-2024.

Of the 61 dams, 52 dams with a total capacity of 3,746.51 million cubic meters have the potential for utilization of irrigation services for 71 irrigation areas.

"Through the construction of the dam, the area of irrigation that can be utilized will increase from the initial 761,542 ha (10.66 percent) in 2014 to 1,147,510 ha or (16.17 percent) in 2024. So, the planting index, which was originally around 137 percent, will increase to around 254 percent," he concluded.