Regent Promotes Food Self-Sufficiency in the Thousand Islands

Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Regent of the Thousand Islands, Muhammad Fadjar Churniawan, continues to promote efforts to enhance food self-sufficiency in the island region by having local communities plant food crops.

“In line with the Jakarta Governor’s directives for every area to increase food self-sufficiency based on local potential, today we harvested melons on Tidung Kecil Island, Tidung Village,” said the Regent of the Thousand Islands, Muhammad Fadjar Churniawan, in Jakarta on Tuesday.

According to him, this activity is a strategic step by the government to anticipate the impact of the global crisis on food availability.

“Praise be to God, coinciding with Kartini Day, we together with the PKK mothers successfully harvested green variety melons and carried out the inaugural planting of edamame beans,” he said.

He stated that the limited land in the Thousand Islands does not hinder the development of productive agriculture.

He mentioned that through cross-sector collaboration, land on Tidung Kecil Island is optimised into an urban farming area that provides real benefits for the surrounding residents.

He hopes this land will become a motivator for the community and continues to encourage residents to plant productive crops.

“The KPKP Sub-District Office has also distributed easy-to-maintain chilli seeds to support this movement,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Head of the Sub-District Office for Food Security, Marine Affairs, and Agriculture (KPKP) of the Thousand Islands, Nurliati, explained that the melon harvest results are part of a trial of superior varieties suitable for the coastal region conditions.

She said that melon plants have a growing period of around 90 days. Meanwhile, edamame was chosen because its harvest period is relatively short, about 75 days.

According to her, today 100 melons were harvested on Tidung Kecil Island, along with a chilli harvest and the inaugural planting of edamame beans.

She recounted that initially, they planted around 300 melon seedlings. However, due to natural factors and pest disturbances, only about 100 fruits were successfully harvested today.

“For edamame, we hope this plant becomes a good source of vegetable protein for families,” she said.