ABRI to continue safety-net projects<\/p>\n
BANDUNG (JP): Despite having relatively little impact on the
\nnational food and unemployment crises, the Armed Forces is to
\ncontinue its labor-intensive farming projects in villages in its
\ncampaign to boost national food stocks.<\/p>\n
Army Chief of Staff Gen. Subagyo Hadisiswoyo said at the
\nopening ceremony of a national seminar on the program here on
\nSunday that: \"The farming projects which recruit jobless people
\nto till unproductive land for the agribusiness industry are quite
\nstrategic (and will) ease the unemployment problem.\"<\/p>\n
He said ABRI had also prepared 100,000 hectares of
\nunproductive land in 205 villages, mostly in Java, for
\nagribusiness development over the next three months.<\/p>\n
\"These agribusiness projects, which are based on a profit
\nsharing scheme, are expected to absorb 17,000 jobless people and
\ngenerate a Rp 50 million (US$6,450) profit.\"<\/p>\n
Subagyo said that over the last three months ABRI had
\nsucceeded in developing 100 hectares of unproductive land in Java
\nfor agribusiness purposes which had brought a profit of more than
\nRp 54 million.<\/p>\n
\"The projects, worth Rp 57 billion, absorbed 170,000 workers,
\nmostly newly unemployed people... Now, the workers have their own
\ncapital to farm the land.\"<\/p>\n
He said that until next March, ABRI's labor-intensive
\nagricultural projects were expected to use about 300,000 hectares
\nof idle land and employ approximately 500,000 people.<\/p>\n
Subagyo said that despite its relatively small contribution to
\nthe national economy, the labor-intensive agricultural projects
\nhad succeeded in helping jobless people survive the economic
\ncrisis and the prolonged drought.<\/p>\n
\"Many regions in Java, Kalimantan and East and West Nusa
\nTenggara, Irian Jaya and Kalimantan are facing food shortages not
\nonly because of the crisis but also because of the prolonged
\ndrought,\" he said, adding that many people now only ate rice once
\nor twice a day because of harvest failures over the last two
\nyears.<\/p>\n
He said ABRI could not expand the labor-intensive program to
\nother regions because of funding shortages.<\/p>\n
\"ABRI has no special budget for the projects,\" he said, adding
\nthat they were, in the main, financed by foreign institutions
\nsuch as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank.
\n(rms)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/abri-to-continue-safety-net-projects-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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