Govt to use new agricultural land this year<\/p>\n
Sari P. Setiogi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
The government is planning to open up some 304,451 hectares of
\nnew agricultural land this year in a bid to increase the
\nproduction of food crops like rice, corn and soybeans, said a
\nsenior official.<\/p>\n
"We expect to produce more food this year. Particularly with
\nrice, we are expecting to produce 53 to 54 million tons of the
\nunhusked variety, which is the equivalent of about 35 million
\ntons of rice," said Sutarto Alimuso, director of food plant
\nconservation at the Ministry of Agriculture.<\/p>\n
He said that most of the new agricultural land was located
\noutside Java.<\/p>\n
Opening up new productive land is part of a government attempt
\nto increase domestic food supplies to reduce dependency on
\nimported foods. Rice, for instance, is considered to be a
\nstrategic commodity as it is the staple food of most of the
\ncountry's more than 210 million population.<\/p>\n
Sutarto said that the ministry would adopt various measures to
\nmeet the above target. These included the utilization of former
\ntransmigration sites long abandoned by farmers and of former
\npaddy fields.<\/p>\n
He explained that with a little treatment and use of
\nfertilizers the above types of land could be put to productive
\nagricultural use.<\/p>\n
"... We are going to utilize about 17,000 hectares of this
\nkind of land," said Sutarto.<\/p>\n
But he could not specify the amount of investment needed for
\nthe program.<\/p>\n
He added that the ministry would push farmers to plant
\nhorticultural crops in their paddy fields to allow them to have a
\nbetter harvest.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, commenting on the possibility of flooding and
\nclimate change expected to take place in the early months of the
\nyear, he said that the government had prepared some 350,000
\nhectares of land to replace the function of lowland areas that
\nmight be badly affected by the floods.<\/p>\n
"They are located in seven provinces, including Riau, Jambi,
\nSouth Sumatra, South Kalimantan and West Kalimantan," said
\nSutarto.<\/p>\n
He also mentioned that some irrigation facilities had also
\nbeen repaired and some new ones built.<\/p>\n
"With all these preparations, we expect that climate change or
\nflooding will not (seriously) affect farmers' crops this year."<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/govt-to-use-new-agricultural-land-this-year-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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