Minister Offers Free Seeds and Land Cultivation for Productive Pesantren
Agriculture Minister Andi Amran Sulaiman is providing free plantation commodity seeds, cost-free land cultivation, and cultivation assistance to pesantren that have productive land in a bid to strengthen food security.
Speaking at the VIII Indonesian Muslim Congress organised by the Indonesian Ulema Council in Jakarta on Sunday, the minister said that if any pesantren requires assistance, seeds for sugarcane, cocoa, coconut, cashew, and coffee are all available free of charge from the President. Land cultivation is also free. The pesantren only needs to prepare the land, and the ministry will plant it.
He called on Islamic boarding schools to take a greater role in strengthening national food security. Amran said pesantren with productive land can submit proposals for assistance through the local agriculture office. The Ministry of Agriculture is ready to help, from land cultivation to the provision of seeds.
According to him, pesantren have great potential to become centres of agricultural activity while building food self-sufficiency and productive activities for students. He explained that the ministry wants pesantren to become food self-sufficient, and those with land only need to submit proposals through the agriculture office for the ministry to help plant and prepare the seeds so that pesantren land can become productive.
The programme is part of the development of around 870,000 hectares of strategic plantation commodities across various regions of Indonesia. The government has also allocated a budget of approximately Rp 9.95 trillion to support the provision of superior seeds and the development of smallholder plantations.
The minister stated that all of this is for the people, and if there are still those in need this year, seeds are still available and ready to be distributed. He assessed that the involvement of pesantren in the agricultural sector is not only related to food security but can also open new economic opportunities for the community and build self-reliance.
During the forum, the minister also outlined several government policies to increase the added value of agricultural commodities through downstream processing, including palm oil, cooking oil, chicken, and eggs. He noted that downstream processing is an important strategy to ensure that the benefits of agricultural development do not stop at production but also increase the economic value felt by the community.
In addition to smallholder plantation development, Amran said agricultural development in Papua continues to be expanded to promote equitable development and improve welfare in Indonesia’s eastern region. The programme for creating new rice fields and optimising land, which was initially focused in South Papua, is now expanding to other areas in Papua due to high demand from the community. He said the ministry has built new rice fields and optimised land covering around 138,000 hectares, and the programme has now been requested by Papua Highlands, Central Papua, and Southwest Papua.