When Promises Are Put to the Test of Time
Mataram (ANTARA) - A year ago, the grounds of the Institute of Domestic Governance (IPDN) campus in Praya, Central Lombok, bore witness to a speech brimming with optimism about rapid progress and developmental leaps.
Under the leadership of Lalu Muhamad Iqbal and Indah Dhamayanti Putri (Iqbal-Dinda), West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) entered a new chapter, with the grand vision of "NTB Prosperous and World-Renowned".
The theme of "NTB's Rapid Progress for a Great Province", proclaimed during the province's 67th anniversary, was not merely a ceremonial slogan. It became a working promise that must be tested by figures, by tangible change, and by the sense of justice felt by residents from Lombok to Sape.
The first year is always synonymous with laying foundations. The public has not yet demanded a full harvest, but has already begun assessing the direction. Whether the rapid steps are measurable. Whether the promise of equitable development truly reaches the villages. Whether bureaucratic reform is mere rhetoric or genuinely being implemented.
Over the past year, a number of indicators have shown movement. NTB's poverty rate fell from 11.91 per cent in 2024 to 11.78 per cent in 2025. Rice production surged from approximately 1.45 million tonnes to more than 2 million tonnes by the end of 2025, through a land optimisation programme covering more than 10,700 hectares.
The Farmers' Terms of Trade rose from 123 to 128. In the health sector, Manambai Regional General Hospital in Sumbawa was upgraded from type C to type B. Air connectivity expanded, with five new domestic routes and preparations for international routes in 2026.
These figures are important, yet figures are not the end goal. They are merely the entry point for reading the quality and direction of development.
**Human resources and food security**
One of the most notable achievements is the decline in stunting prevalence, projected to reach approximately 16.4 per cent by the end of 2025. This figure is approaching the national target of 14 per cent.
The decline did not occur in isolation. It was supported by the integration of data from the Indonesian Nutritional Status Survey and the Central Statistics Agency, the digitalisation of nutritional record-keeping through e-PPGBM, and a foster parent movement for at-risk toddlers.
Nutritional interventions were focused on the first 1,000 days of life, the provision of iron supplement tablets for adolescent girls, and the utilisation of local foods such as eggs, fish, and moringa.
This approach is not merely a health programme. It is a human development strategy. Every rupiah invested in nutrition yields multiplied productivity returns in the future. In the logic of long-term development, this is the foundation of Golden Indonesia 2045.
In the food security sector, NTB has demonstrated its capacity as a national rice and cattle granary. The cattle population reached approximately 1.3 million head in 2024, with 65 per cent located on Sumbawa Island.
NTB maintains a meat surplus and is able to dispatch more than 50,000 head of beef cattle annually to other regions. In 2025, shipments of sacrificial cattle to other regions reached approximately 16,000 head, still far below the national potential of more than 700,000 head per year.
Steps to accelerate animal health testing through PCR in Mataram and plans to add livestock transport vessels demonstrate attention to supply chain efficiency. Meanwhile, the groundbreaking of an integrated poultry downstream processing facility in Sumbawa, with an investment value of approximately Rp1.3 trillion, opens new hope. Feed mills, breeding facilities, poultry abattoirs, and processing plants are expected to reduce production costs and create employment.
At the same time, the homework is clear. NTB's average cattle population growth rate stands at 0.56 per cent per year, below the national growth rate of 2.12 per cent. Revitalisation of grazing lands and protein feed production are key.
Without upstream improvements, downstream processing will be hamstrung. What is needed here is the courage to allocate budgets for local feed research, university partnerships, and incentives for smallholder livestock investment.
Under the leadership of Lalu Muhamad Iqbal and Indah Dhamayanti Putri (Iqbal-Dinda), West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) entered a new chapter, with the grand vision of "NTB Prosperous and World-Renowned".
The theme of "NTB's Rapid Progress for a Great Province", proclaimed during the province's 67th anniversary, was not merely a ceremonial slogan. It became a working promise that must be tested by figures, by tangible change, and by the sense of justice felt by residents from Lombok to Sape.
The first year is always synonymous with laying foundations. The public has not yet demanded a full harvest, but has already begun assessing the direction. Whether the rapid steps are measurable. Whether the promise of equitable development truly reaches the villages. Whether bureaucratic reform is mere rhetoric or genuinely being implemented.
Over the past year, a number of indicators have shown movement. NTB's poverty rate fell from 11.91 per cent in 2024 to 11.78 per cent in 2025. Rice production surged from approximately 1.45 million tonnes to more than 2 million tonnes by the end of 2025, through a land optimisation programme covering more than 10,700 hectares.
The Farmers' Terms of Trade rose from 123 to 128. In the health sector, Manambai Regional General Hospital in Sumbawa was upgraded from type C to type B. Air connectivity expanded, with five new domestic routes and preparations for international routes in 2026.
These figures are important, yet figures are not the end goal. They are merely the entry point for reading the quality and direction of development.
**Human resources and food security**
One of the most notable achievements is the decline in stunting prevalence, projected to reach approximately 16.4 per cent by the end of 2025. This figure is approaching the national target of 14 per cent.
The decline did not occur in isolation. It was supported by the integration of data from the Indonesian Nutritional Status Survey and the Central Statistics Agency, the digitalisation of nutritional record-keeping through e-PPGBM, and a foster parent movement for at-risk toddlers.
Nutritional interventions were focused on the first 1,000 days of life, the provision of iron supplement tablets for adolescent girls, and the utilisation of local foods such as eggs, fish, and moringa.
This approach is not merely a health programme. It is a human development strategy. Every rupiah invested in nutrition yields multiplied productivity returns in the future. In the logic of long-term development, this is the foundation of Golden Indonesia 2045.
In the food security sector, NTB has demonstrated its capacity as a national rice and cattle granary. The cattle population reached approximately 1.3 million head in 2024, with 65 per cent located on Sumbawa Island.
NTB maintains a meat surplus and is able to dispatch more than 50,000 head of beef cattle annually to other regions. In 2025, shipments of sacrificial cattle to other regions reached approximately 16,000 head, still far below the national potential of more than 700,000 head per year.
Steps to accelerate animal health testing through PCR in Mataram and plans to add livestock transport vessels demonstrate attention to supply chain efficiency. Meanwhile, the groundbreaking of an integrated poultry downstream processing facility in Sumbawa, with an investment value of approximately Rp1.3 trillion, opens new hope. Feed mills, breeding facilities, poultry abattoirs, and processing plants are expected to reduce production costs and create employment.
At the same time, the homework is clear. NTB's average cattle population growth rate stands at 0.56 per cent per year, below the national growth rate of 2.12 per cent. Revitalisation of grazing lands and protein feed production are key.
Without upstream improvements, downstream processing will be hamstrung. What is needed here is the courage to allocate budgets for local feed research, university partnerships, and incentives for smallholder livestock investment.