Mahfud MD Calls The Food Estate Program Failed In The Candidate Debate, TKN: See The Good Intentions First

Debat Cawapres KPU, di JCC, Minggu 21 Januari (VOI)

JAKARTA - The Prabowo-Gibran National Campaign Team (TKN) responded to Mahfud MD's criticism that the food estate program failed in the vice presidential debate on Sunday, January 21, evening.

In particular, it failed to preserve nature because of the project managed by the Minister of Defense whose Presidential Candidate number 2, Prabowo Subianto.

Spokesperson for TKN Prabowo-Gibran, Dyah Roro Esti, explained that all food barns have been regulated through law number 23 of 2019 concerning national resource processing (PSDN).

Dyah said that the regulation has relevance to the Ministry of Defense by leading its sector, the Ministry of Agriculture and related ministries. Dyah also asked the food estate program to see its good intentions first. The reason is, the program is targeted to meet food needs for 300 million Indonesians by 2050.

"So this food barn, we start with the good intentions first. That Indonesia's population is projected to be more than 280 million people in 2030 to more than 300 million people in 2050. All of that will be accompanied by increasing energy demand and also increasing food demand", said Dyah Roro Esti, Monday, January 22.

The member of the DPR from Golkar said that the core of this food estate is how the state can be present to increase land productivity. "The point is, progress can only be seen optimally within more than 3 years," said Dyah. Regarding environmental damage, the member of Commission VII of the DPR revealed that the Ministry of Environment and Forestry was already involved in the process. Starting from the land permit which has also gone through the verification process and direct checks in the field.

Dyah emphasized that the food estate permit was issued to provide space so that food barns could be present for the Indonesian people. He said people must understand that this program cannot be 100 percent environmentally friendly but will have an impact on national economic growth. "So there are factors that then we have to prepare, the important thing is that we can minimize the environmental cost by encouraging sustainable sustainability," he concluded.