The government is set to develop 30,000 hectares into farmland in Humbang Hasundutan regency, North Sumatra by next month as the Agriculture Ministry commences its food estate program to stimulate the local economy.
The first phase of the program will use 1,000 ha for potatoes, shallots and garlic, Agriculture Minister Syahrul Yasin Limpo stated.
” The food estate program we’re establishing is the very first of its kind in Indonesia. It will not be restricted to North Sumatra. This is the pilot project,” he stated during a check out to Ria town in the regency on Friday.
If the pilot task prospers, regions with similar land qualities will be consisted of in the program, Syahrul said.
” We can anticipate excellent results if capital intervention also follows. Residents must be empowered through each hectare that is being established,” he stated.
Syahrul likewise stated the farming sector had actually taped 22 percent growth during the pandemic.
He cited that based on ministry records, the export of gardening items in August had reached Rp 22 trillion (US$ 1.4 billion) and an overall of Rp 225 trillion from January to August.
The food estate program in North Sumatra, Syahrul included, intended to improve the province’s economy through agriculture and improve the country’s strength in food security.
North Sumatra’s deputy guv, Musa Rajekshah, invited the program, saying that the administration supported the program.
” We are grateful to see large land utilized for state and citizens’ interests, especially for Humbang Hasundutan regency,” he said during the visit.
Humbang Hasundutan Regent Dosmar Banjarnahor expressed the same optimism.
President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo previously bought the general public Works and Housing Ministry to broaden the government’s food estate program by developing 165,000 ha in Pulang Pisau regency, Central Kalimantan, into farmland.
The program seeks to address the federal government’s issues about a looming food crisis as an effect of the COVID-19 pandemic, hearkening an earlier caution from the Food and Agriculture Organization. (trn)
