Coordinating Minister For Food Zulhas: Irrigation Development In Regions Can Be Handled By The Central Government

Coordinating Minister for Food Affairs, Zulkifli Hasan. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

Coordinating Minister for Food Affairs Zulkifli Hasan said that the handling of repairs or irrigation development in the regions could be directly handled by the central government.

"In pursuing food self-sufficiency quickly according to the target in 2027, obstacles must be overcome, one of which is irrigation. And there are two types that must be done, namely optimizing existing ones and building new ones," said Zulkifli Hasan while chairing a food coordination meeting in Bandarlampung, quoted by Antara, Saturday, December 28.

He said that currently to accelerate the optimization of irrigation operations in order to support food self-sufficiency, the construction and rehabilitation of irrigation in the regions could be taken over by the central government.

"Currently, there are two million rainsheds that have not been fully watered and we will build this. Meanwhile, irrigation is indeed complicated so it will be made easier as is the problem of road construction. Irrigation of the work can be taken over by the center," he said.

According to him, the rules for the authority to handle irrigation which include 1,000 hectares of district government authority, 3,000 hectares of provincial authority have been facilitated. And if local governments are able to carry out improvements, then improvements can still be made by local governments.

"The President's regulation regarding irrigation has been completed and will soon be ratified by the President, we will resolve this because it is very important. Therefore, we ask the governors, regents and agriculture services to immediately propose which areas need irrigation," he added.

According to him, the future three months the progress of repairs and the construction of irrigation will be evaluated and directly monitored.

"We want to solve the irrigation problem in a short time, quickly so that self-sufficiency is realized according to the target. With a national farm area of 7.4 million hectares and mostly only one planting time, it is hoped that with irrigation improvement it can increase to two plantings," he said again.