Wanting To Survive As A National Food Barn, The South Sumatra Provincial Government Invites People To Use Sleeping Land

One of the locations of less productive land in South Sumatra. (AMONG)

PALEMBANG - The Provincial Government of South Sumatra invites people to use 'sleeping' land which amounts to hundreds of thousands of hectares to become productive land, for example for agricultural and livestock sector activities.

"By utilizing unused land spread across 17 regencies and cities, it is hoped that we can optimize the South Sumatra Food Independent Movement (GSMP)," said South Sumatra Governor Herman Deru, in Palembang, Antara, Tuesday, August 23.

Herman Deru explained that his party is trying to do various ways to maintain this province as a national food barn. In addition to optimizing the use of land that has been processed by the community so far, his party seeks to encourage the use of unused land.

The total area of this province is 8,701,741 hectares spread over 13 regencies and four cities, 234 sub-districts, 384 urban villages and 2,859 villages.

As for the area of agricultural land, especially rice fields in this province, it reaches 600 thousand hectares. With the use of unused land, it is hoped that paddy fields and land for other agricultural activities, plantations, and livestock can be expanded.

"I continue to motivate people to use every inch of land, through these efforts, it is hoped that in the future there will be no more idle or unproductive land," said the Governor.

Meanwhile, the Executive Board of the Indonesian Farmers Association (HKTI) of South Sumatra Province, Mustafa Kamal, explained that there were about 700 thousand hectares of land in this province that was used as idle land.

He stated that the amount of unused land was wider than the existing paddy fields in this province which reached around 600 thousand hectares.

If the vacant land can be managed by the community properly, he continued, not only the production target of 2.9 million tons of dry milled grain (GKG) this year can be achieved easily, but also the production of other food crops.