JAKARTA - The Ministry of Agriculture (Kementan) has prepared a budget of Rp. 5 trillion for the rehabilitation of damaged rice fields due to floods and landslides in Aceh, North Sumatra, and West Sumatra.
Member of Commission IV of the Indonesian House of Representatives, Usman Husin, emphasized that this program requires strict supervision so that the rehabilitation of rice fields in disaster areas can return to being a food warehouse for the community.
"We fully support the Ministry of Agriculture's steps to rehabilitate damaged rice fields due to disasters in Sumatra. However, the Ministry of Agriculture must explain the details of the implementation of the program so that the public can jointly monitor and reduce the potential for misuse of the program," Usman Husin told reporters, Thursday, January 15.
Usman explained that rice field rehabilitation is not merely a technical agricultural program, but a strategic step to save the farmers' survival after the disaster. According to him, damaged rice fields make farmers lose their main source of income, while living needs continue.
"However, the state must ensure that this assistance really reaches the farmers who need it, not stopping at the administrative level," he said.
Usman explained that flood and landslide disasters not only damaged agricultural land, but also destroyed crops, seeds that had been planted, as well as other agricultural production facilities. He assessed that this condition made farmers suffer multiple losses and were in a very vulnerable economic situation.
"Farmers lose crops, lose capital, and lose planting time. Without state assistance, they will have difficulty getting up because the cost of repairing rice fields, buying seeds, fertilizers, and other means of production is not small," he explained.
Furthermore, the legislator from East Nusa Tenggara reminded that the rehabilitation of rice fields is also a tangible form of the state's presence in protecting vulnerable groups. Farmers, said Usman, are often the parties most affected by disasters, but the slowest to receive recovery.
Usman also encouraged the government to involve local governments and farmers' groups in the data collection and implementation of rehabilitation, so that the program is truly based on needs in the field and does not cause new problems later.
"This assistance is not just about agriculture, but about social justice. The state must be present to ensure that farmers are not left to bear the impact of disasters alone. If farmers are not immediately helped, then poverty in rural areas will deepen and economic disparities will widen," he said.
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