Jokowi Orders Minister Sofyan Djalil To Manage Food Estate Land Issues

President Joko Widodo (Photo: Twitter @jokowi)

JAKARTA - President Joko Widodo ordered the Minister of Agrarian Affairs and Spatial Planning / Head of the National Land Agency (BPN) Sofyan Djalil to deal with land ownership issues that will be used as the location for food estates or food barns in Indonesia. This is because the problem of land ownership has become an obstacle in implementing the program.

"There are still several problems that need to be resolved, namely those related to land ownership in the food estate area and this then creates a little problem. But I am sure the Minister of ATR / BPN can immediately resolve this because this involves a large area," Jokowi said when opening a limited meeting regarding food estate broadcast on the Presidential Secretariat YouTube account, Wednesday, September 23.

The former governor of DKI explained that the government has prepared two provinces for this food storage program, namely Central Kalimantan and North Sumatra Provinces. In Central Kalimantan province, this food barn will be in the Kapuas Regency and Pulang Pisau Regency. Meanwhile, for North Sumatra, the location will be in Tumbang Pasundutan Regency.

Later, if the location he mentioned earlier is ready, this program will be further expanded to a number of provinces such as Papua, East Nusa Tenggara and South Sumatra.

"This is what we want to prioritize even though we also have plans to continue after starting work in the field," he said.

Furthermore, Jokowi ordered his ministers to finalize the formulation of the master plan for the implementation of the food estate. This project, he said, needed a clear master plan or design. For the Central Kalimantan region, he explained that the land area to be used reaches 148 thousand hectares.

This area includes an irrigated area and will be used to grow rice. Meanwhile, non-irrigated areas that can be used to plant cassava and maize and livestock reach 622 thousand hectares.

"This master plan is very important so that all aspects can be seen and resolved," he said.

Finally, Jokowi also asked that the supporting infrastructure for road access to the food estate be worked on immediately. The hope is, after completion, modern agricultural tools can enter the area.

In addition, he also ordered his subordinates to study financing issues including the food barn business model. "If it is correct, we will use this business model in other provinces. But I think this one must be correct first," he concluded.