Ministry Of Agriculture Targets To Print 500 Thousand Hectares Of Rice Fields In South Kalimantan To Support Food Self-Sufficiency

The President of the Republic of Indonesia, Prabowo Subianto, together with the Minister of Agriculture, Andi Amran Sulaiman. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Agriculture (Kementan) is targeting to print 500 thousand hectares of new rice fields in South Kalimantan (South Kalimantan) as an effort to support the achievement of food self-sufficiency and strengthen national food security.

"Today we have mapped it for 500 thousand hectares of rice fields. If this can be realized into our food power," said Minister of Agriculture (Mentan) Andi Amran Sulaiman at the Coordination Meeting of the People's Rice Fields Program, in Banjarbaru, South Kalimantan, quoted from Antara, Monday 5 November.

The Ministry of Agriculture moved quickly to realize food self-sufficiency according to President Prabowo Subianto's direction. Not only in Merauke and Central Kalimantan, the Ministry of Agriculture is aiming to print new rice fields in South Kalimantan.

According to the Minister of Agriculture, the potential for land in South Kalimantan can be used to meet Indonesia's food needs, so that his party aims to produce new rice fields in the province covering an area of 500 thousand hectares.

Amran explained that the target of 500 thousand hectares will be pursued in stages. For the first phase, the Ministry of Agriculture will start printing 152,291 hectares of rice fields on land located in Hulu Sungai Selatan Regency; Hulu Sungai Tengah; Hulu Sungai Utara; Tanah Laut; and Tapin Regency.

Then the Ministry of Agriculture will continue the program to other areas in South Kalimantan.

"Please take this seriously, later there will be a total of 500 thousand hectares, I want to check one by one later. If the production is 2-3 times, this can lift our rice production," said the Minister of Agriculture in a statement in Jakarta.

The Minister of Agriculture said that the printing of rice fields would be worked on with the use of technology, ranging from land processing, planting, to harvesting and post-harvest.

For this reason, the Ministry of Agriculture cooperates with several companies to commit to supporting the acceleration of rice fields printing by providing agricultural tools and machinery (alsintan).

"There are 14 companies committed to preparing tools to print rice fields, a total of about 2,000 tools. So, we are accelerating, we even ask the Director General of PSP, the contract is completed in the next 1-2 days, a maximum of 3 days," said the Minister of Agriculture.

In addition, the Minister of Agriculture also emphasized the role of the younger generation to take part in the rice field printing program through the Food Brigade which is guarded by the Agricultural Human Resources Counseling and Development Agency (BPPSDMP).

"We have a Brigade where 200 hectares are managed by 15 people, they are given technological tools. We want millennial farmers to be involved," he said.

Not only that, the Minister of Agriculture said that collaboration with various parties is the key to jointly carrying out rice fields to realize food self-sufficiency.

Therefore, during the coordination meeting, the Ministry of Agriculture, the Provincial Government of South Kalimantan, district governments and city governments were signed in the South Kalimantan, Kodam, regional police, high prosecutors, and Pupuk Indonesia.

The signing is a form of commitment to print rice fields in order to accelerate rice production to support national food security.

The Ministry of Agriculture is currently intensifying the rice field printing program as an effort to maintain rice production in anticipation and mitigation amid the threat of climate change and geopolitical conditions.

"He (Prabowo) asked us to accelerate the big idea of printing rice fields into an effort to realize self-sufficiency (food)," said the Minister of Agriculture.