PRR Task Force Urges Ministry of Agriculture to Accelerate Agricultural Land Recovery

Banda Aceh (ANTARA) - The Post-Disaster Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Acceleration Task Force (Satgas PRR) is urging the Ministry of Agriculture (Kementan) to speed up the recovery process for community rice fields damaged after the Sumatra disaster.

Head of the Regional Post for Satgas PRR, Safrizal ZA, in Aceh Besar on Tuesday, stated that the agricultural sector recovery process, based on Ministry of Agriculture data, has only reached two percent or 991 hectares out of a target of 42,700 hectares.

“This is still far from complete, and we continue to push the Ministry of Agriculture to ensure the construction process for recovering these rice fields is fulfilled,” said Safrizal ZA.

The statement was delivered by Safrizal ZA during a media gathering on the progress report of rehabilitation and reconstruction following the Aceh natural disaster, held at the auditorium of The Padee Hotel in Aceh Besar.

For information, out of the 42,700 hectares of agricultural land targeted for post-disaster rehabilitation, Aceh has the highest allocation at 31,464 hectares, followed by North Sumatra with 7,336 hectares and West Sumatra with 3,902 hectares.

He acknowledged that the rice field construction target is quite substantial, which is why Satgas PRR is also continuously undertaking various efforts, including contracts with vendors for the recovery of community rice fields.

Safrizal explained that recovery steps need to be carried out immediately, especially for heavily damaged rice fields buried in mud up to more than one metre, as it still requires studies on whether to conduct repeated cleaning or create new rice fields.

“It very much depends on the Ministry of Agriculture’s studies for the heavily damaged rice fields,” he said.

He added that specifically for Aceh, out of the 31,464-hectare construction target, only 42 hectares have been completed, or about 0.13 percent, with 612 hectares still in process. Therefore, accelerating this recovery is greatly anticipated so that communities can return to farming.

“We are pushing this process as quickly as possible, so that communities reliant on the agricultural sector can resume planting on their respective lands,” concluded Safrizal ZA.