Government Tightens Supervision of Rice Field Expansion Programme in Kalimantan

The Government, through the Ministry of Agriculture, is conducting evaluations and increasing supervision of the implementation of the Rice Field Expansion Programme in the Kalimantan regional area. The government has identified various implementation issues from previous years that have the potential to hinder progress, necessitating early intervention.

This was revealed by the Director General of Agricultural Land and Irrigation at the Ministry of Agriculture, Hermanto, during a coordination meeting for the Kalimantan Rice Field Expansion in Banjarbaru, South Kalimantan, on Saturday. The meeting, aimed at preparing for construction to ensure the effective expansion of planting areas in support of national food self-sufficiency, was attended by 112 participants from across the Kalimantan region.

According to Hermanto, evaluation and tightened supervision will be conducted through S-curve-based monitoring, inspections of heavy equipment readiness, and periodic evaluations of work achievements to support the acceleration of planting on the developed land. The government has noted critical points from previous years’ implementations that could potentially obstruct work, requiring anticipation from the planning stage through to field execution.

“All construction work must refer to the previously prepared Survey Investigation Design (SID) documents as the basis for activities; therefore, no work outside the established planning is permitted,” he stated.

He emphasised that the government will issue warnings if a deviation of more than five per cent occurs between targets and work achievements, as such conditions could disrupt the overall construction schedule. “We must remain disciplined regarding targets and achievements so that construction can proceed according to the established plan,” added Hermanto.

Ariadi Noor, Assistant for Economic Affairs and Development of the South Kalimantan Provincial Secretariat, stated that the South Kalimantan Provincial Government is ready to fully support all national programmes in the agricultural sector, particularly the rice field expansion activities to be implemented across four provinces in Kalimantan: South Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan, East Kalimantan, and North Kalimantan.

Based on the Survey Investigation and Design (SID) data presented at the meeting, South Kalimantan has achieved an area of 1,724.70 hectares. This achievement is considered impressive progress compared to other regions in Kalimantan. “South Kalimantan’s progress is extraordinary. This is an achievement to be proud of and can serve as an example for other provinces in Kalimantan,” he said.

South Kalimantan’s success in the agricultural sector is further strengthened by a projected rice surplus of 1.2 million tonnes in 2025. Due to this achievement, South Kalimantan has been designated as a pilot region for national food sector development.

To maintain its position as a primary food granary supporting Kalimantan Island, the South Kalimantan Provincial Government aims to increase rice production to 1.3 million tonnes by 2026 through the optimisation of the 30,000-hectare community rice field expansion programme and the development of local food commodity diversification.