Making Agriculture In Urban, Surabaya City Government Utilizes BTKD Land

A resident is using BTKD land. (ANTARA/HO-Diskominfo Surabaya)

SURABAYA - The Surabaya City Government (Pemkot) continues to prepare land for urban agriculture. One of the lands used is the former village treasury land (BTKD).

This BTKD land is used for agriculture in urban areas, ranging from the agricultural, livestock to fishery sectors.

Head of the Surabaya City Food and Agriculture Security Service (DKPP), Antiek Sugiharti, said that one of the BTKDs currently being used for agriculture is the BTKD in the Tambak Wedi area. The land area of 4 hectares has only been used for 6,000 square meters.

"For the initial stage, the BTKD land in Tambak Wedi was used for urban farming," said Antiek, as reported by Antara.

According to him, in the 6,000 square meter land, DKPP utilizes three labor-intensive program sectors, namely, the agricultural, livestock and fishery sectors.

For the agricultural sector, there are 560 banana tree seedlings planted, 525 thousand spinach seeds, 53 thousand kale seeds, 150 chili seeds, 200 eggplant seeds, 400 cauliflower seeds, 5,320 cassava and 45 thousand corn seeds.

Then for the fishery sector, it is in the form of cultivating 1,200 tilapia seeds and 600 catfish seeds through a circular pond, while in the livestock sector, it is in the form of maggot cultivation.

According to him, the BTKD land is prepared so that it can be used by residents who belong to the low-income group (MBR), especially residents who have not worked, as an implementation of the labor-intensive program launched by the Surabaya City Government.

Mayor of Surabaya Eri Cahyadi previously said that the program is labor intensive, one of which is to utilize all land assets belonging to the city government for the benefit of residents, such as BTKD land prepared for urban agricultural land.

"Take advantage of the BTKD land which has not been used for the benefit of the people," he said.

In fact, he continued, on the BTKD land, the Surabaya City Government also plans to prepare a place for the production of paving and lightweight bricks which will be carried out by residents with MBR status.