Prisoners In Salemba Prison Become Japanese Sweet Potato Farmers

JAKARTA - The Salemba Class I detention center in Central Jakarta utilizes an empty land of 3,200 square meters to plant Japanese sweet potatoes as part of the self-reliance program for the inmates.

The head of the Salemba Detention Center, Yohanis Varianto, explained that his party cooperated with PT Agribusiness Pangan as a third party to provide seeds, fertilizers and education related to planting methods for inmates.

"So far, these vacant lands have not been used, they are unproductive. We see that the Japanese sweet potato is not tall, so it is not dangerous in terms of security," said Yohanis at the Salemba Detention Center, Central Jakarta, Monday, December 20.

Yohanis explained this Japanese yam plant is creeping with a maximum height of 40 centimeters.

Therefore, the plant is suitable to be planted in detention centers and correctional institutions (Lapas) because the height does not endanger the security of the inmates.

As a start, 4,000 polybags of Japanese sweet potato seeds were planted in the vacant land of the Salemba Prison. One polybag of seeds is estimated to produce 5 kilograms of Japanese sweet potatoes so that at harvest it is estimated that it will reach 20 tons of Japanese sweet potatoes.

Later, the Japanese yam harvest will be absorbed by PT Agribusiness Pangan which will be processed as the basic ingredient for noodles without a mixture of flour or gluten free and other processed foods.

"After three months of harvesting, it will be used for the fabrication of noodles, so there is no mixture of chemicals, free of preservatives. Apart from being processed for noodles, it can also be processed into processed foods such as chips," Yohanis said as quoted by Antara.

Yohanis added that the sale of the Japanese sweet potato harvest to third parties would certainly increase Non-Tax State Revenue (PNBP) and premiums to the assisted residents.