Ministry Of Agriculture Encourages Millennials To Build Modern Agriculture

The Ministry of Agriculture team reviewed the location of modern agricultural development in Badminton District, Kapuas Regency, Central Kalimantan Province. (ANTARA/HO-Ministry)

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Agriculture (Kementan) through the Agricultural Human Resources Counseling and Development Agency (BPPSDMP) continues to provide assistance to agricultural scholars and millennial farmers to build modern agriculture in Badminton District, Kapuas Regency, Central Kalimantan Province.

Minister of Agriculture (Mentan) Andi Amran Sulaiman said that the government is currently transforming from a traditional agricultural system to modern agriculture that utilizes advanced technology and agricultural mechanization.

"We were asked by President Joko Widodo and President-elect Prabowo Subianto to build modern agriculture, and now we are starting work in several areas such as Merauke, Central Kalimantan, South Kalimantan, West Kalimantan, and South Sumatra which will later become Indonesia's food barn," said Andi Amran in a statement received by Antara in Jakarta, Sunday.

The Minister of Agriculture is targeting 500 thousand hectares of new rice fields in Central Kalimantan, with one harvest projected to produce 5 tons of dry grain per hectare, or 10 tons per hectare in a year. Thus, Central Kalimantan is expected to be able to produce 5 million tons of rice per year.

According to him, if all of these rice fields printing projects run smoothly, the national rice deficit can be overcome only from the production of Central Kalimantan.

"Our strategy is to stop importing rice, achieve self-sufficiency, and even export rice in the future. Hopefully, in the next three years, we can achieve this target," he said.

In supporting the implementation of modern agriculture, the Ministry of Agriculture involves students of the Agricultural Development Polytechnic (Polbangtan) who are participating in the Merdeka Learning Campus Merdeka (MBKM), Internship Students and Certified Independent Studies (MSIB) of the Ministry of Education and Culture and alumni of the PEPI Polbangtan.