Antara-Apr 16, 2024
Agriculture Minister Andi Amran Sulaiman and the South Papua provincial government launched 500 thousand hectares of rice fields in the region to increase agricultural production, both regionally and nationally. “We once launched 10 thousand hectares of rice fields and now, the production has reached six tons per hectare, so it is successful,” Sulaiman said during a working visit to Merauke district here on Tuesday. According to him, the newly launched 500 thousand hectares of agricultural land is part of the one million hectare target. “We want to make a future granary,” he said. During the visit, he launched new farming fields developed from untapped land in South Papua. The agriculture potential in South Papua is very large in meeting domestic needs in eastern Indonesia, he added. Meanwhile, Merauke district head Romanus Mbaraka said that his district is known as a facade for trade and transportation in Eastern Indonesia, the Pacific, and the Melanesian sub-region.
Merauke in South Papua alone has potential agricultural land spanning 1.2 million hectares. “South Papua province consists of four districts, 74 districts, 13 urban villages, and 674 villages. Merauke, with a total area of 127,280.69 square kilometers (and) has a population of 243,722,” Mbaraka added. Read more at:
