President Joko Widodo Targets 360 Million Seedlings From 30 Nursery Centers

Screenshot - Indonesian President Joko Widodo accompanied by the Minister of Environment and Forestry Siti Nurbaya (Via ANTARA)

JAKARTA - President Joko Widodo is targeting the production of 360 million seedlings from 30 nursery centers within three years.

"Our target is that in the next 3 years there will be approximately 30 nursery centers as we see in Rumpin, with a yearly production of 10-12 million, meaning that if we have 30 nursery centers in a year, we will produce approximately 360 million seedlings. or seeds," President Jokowi said in Bogor, West Java, as reported by Antara, Friday, June 10.

President Jokowi said this while attending the launch of the Mangrove Rehabilitation Program and the World Mangrove Center at the Rumpin Nursery, Bogor.

"We want to strengthen our commitment to climate change, to repairing the damaged environment, but with clear, concrete and visible actions," said the President.

President Jokowi since three years ago has ordered to build as many "nursery" or nursery centers as possible.

Starting in 2021, the government will build around 7 nursery locations, namely in Bogor, West Java; in Toba, North Sumatra; in Mandalika, West Nusa Tenggara, in Labuan Bajo, East Nusa Tenggara; and Likupang, North Sulawesi.

"If there are seeds, if there are seeds, like it or not, we have to plant these items. So it's not a few hectares that we will work on, but how much seed production can we produce, only where do we plant these seeds," said the President.

According to President Jokowi, the planting of these seeds can be carried out on critical land in areas that are prone to landslides.

"Or in watersheds, watersheds, especially upstream and we have already started, concretely and we have started like in Ciliwung," added the President.

According to President Jokowi, the seeds have been sent to several regencies and cities that have a lot of critical land.

"This is a process of environmental rehabilitation, we improve our environment with clear and concrete actions that can be counted. Once again, there will be 30 'nursery' like this this year, we estimate that it will be 8 next year, he added, which means the following steps will be taken. The steps towards improving the environment are concrete and can be seen," explained the President.

Meanwhile, regarding the rehabilitation of mangrove areas, President Jokowi has also ordered that by the end of 2024 at least 600 thousand hectares of mangrove land have been rehabilitated.

"As we have also done for peatlands, there are in Riau province, in North Sumatra province, in North Kalimantan province in East Kalimantan province and also in Bali province because we know mangrove forests can reduce, absorb carbon, 4 times more than ordinary tropical rainforests," added the President.

The Rumpin Seed and Nursery Center itself stands on an area of 159.58 hectares consisting of a seedling zone, community management zone, education and training zone, and a business development corridor zone with a production capacity of around 16 million seedlings.

There are a number of facilities available at this location, such as a germination house area, a production house area, to water and sediment pools.