Transmigration Ministry directs transmigration areas to become new economic centres

Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Ministry of Transmigration (Kementrans) is directing transmigration areas to become new centres of economic growth that create productive employment, increase community incomes, expand markets for farmers and local businesses, and attract investment amid global economic and geopolitical changes.

Minister of Transmigration M. Iftitah Sulaiman Suryanagara said that the development of economic activity must precede population movement.

“The future of transmigration is not moving people first and then hoping economic opportunities follow. We must create economic opportunities, prepare jobs and a decent life, and then population mobility follows voluntarily, safely, and with certainty about the future,” Minister Iftitah said in his statement in Jakarta on Tuesday.

According to him, people will come and settle voluntarily if an area offers jobs, business opportunities, infrastructure, and better life prospects.

This ecosystem must cover the entire value chain, from research and nurseries, production, processing, packaging, logistics, to marketing. With this approach, more added value can be created within the area and enjoyed by the local community.

Minister Iftitah cited the high consumption of durian in China, worth around Rp137 trillion per year, as an example. This should not merely be an opportunity to export raw commodities, but also a basis for building a durian industry ecosystem in Indonesia.

“We must not stop at planting and exporting raw commodities. We must build the entire economic ecosystem in Indonesia, from research and nurseries to cultivation, processing, logistics, downstream products, and global marketing,” he said.