Navy launched Jonggol harvests

JAKARTA (JP): Navy Chief of Staff Rear Adm. Widodo AS launched on Monday harvests of corn and peanut crops cultivated on eight hectares of idle land in Jonggol district, Bogor.

The produce consisted of about 16.5 metric tons of corn harvested from a 4.5-hectare plot of land and seven tons of peanuts from another 3.5-hectare plot.

The idle land, owned by the Navy, was originally intended for the development of a housing complex for Navy personnel, Widodo was quoted by Antara as saying.

"But it is still vacant so we decided to use it to help provide foodstuffs in cooperation with agriculture experts from Bogor Institute of Agriculture and local residents," Widodo said.

The Jonggol farm is one of the agricultural projects organized by the Armed Forces (ABRI) with the aim of boosting staple food production during the economic crisis.

Laid-off and jobless residents of Duri Pulo subdistrict in Gambir district, Central Jakarta, harvested on Monday at least 520 kilograms of corn and three tons of vegetables, including water spinach, in a plot of neglected land on the banks of a flood canal.

The first harvest was launched by Central Jakarta Mayor Andi Subur Abdullah.

"The corn will be for the residents, while the vegetables will be sold at local markets," Andi, who was accompanied by several mayoralty officials, said.

He said the mayoralty, in cooperation with private developers, had identified 51 hectares of neglected land in eight districts.

Ten hectares of the 51 hectares had been cultivated, he said.

Besides giving people additional food and income, the cultivation of idle land helped clean up dirty river banks, he said.

"A month ago, I saw the river banks were dirty, but now they are clean and green," Andi said.

Sudjana, head of the Jakarta office of the Ministry of Manpower, explained that the cultivation along the river banks in Duri Pulo employed 42 recently laid-off people.

Besides being given the vegetable seeds, the people were paid Rp 7,500 a day during the first planting session, Sudjana was quoted by Antara as saying.

"In the second planting session, however, the people are not paid any longer. They are expected to manage and develop their land independently," he said.

Karim, one of the dismissed people who joined the farming project, was proud of the harvest.

"We don't need to bring results of the harvest to markets since many people come here to buy directly," the resident of Duri Pulo said. (jun/ivy)