New senior minister eyes Papua to achieve food self-sufficiency

The newly appointed coordinating food minister is looking to the easternmost region of Papua to shore up the country’s scarcity of arable land and to bump up production to achieve food self-sufficiency. Zulkifli Hasan, who was installed on Monday to the new position of coordinating food minister, has announced a five-year plan to develop 2 million hectares of paddy fields in the Papuan region to achieve food self-sufficiency, a key policy goal of President Prabowo Subianto. Zulkifli said the government was working “seriously” in preparing Papua to play a critical role in the national food program, especially as land subsidence continues to spread across northern Java. “Where is the future of Indonesia’s agriculture? In Papua. Now, we are seriously [preparing it],” he said in Jakarta on Monday, as quoted by Bisnis.com. Zulkifli, who previously served as trade minister said he also aimed to develop 600,000-1 million ha of sugarcane plantations in the next five years. “Hopefully, our future will be there [Papua]. Rice farming, sugarcane farming, corn farming are in Papua,” Zulkifli said, as quoted by Bisnis.com. Read more at: https://www.thejakartapost.com/business/2024/10/22/new-senior-minister-eyes-papua-to-achieve-food-self-sufficiency.html.