WNAM REPORT: The Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Manpower of Indonesia have joined forces to develop 3 million ha of paddy fields and conduct land optimisation to boost agricultural productivity and support the development of modern agricultural clusters.
Speaking at a press conference on March 3, Agriculture Minister Andi Amran Sulaiman said that modern agriculture clusters are designed to achieve food self-sufficiency and to turn Indonesia into the world’s food hub.
He said the Ministry of Manpower will deploy 300 to 500 instructors to oversee the management of these agricultural clusters.
More than 27,000 millennial farmers have registered to participate in the modern agricultural programme, which involves the introduction of technology to the younger generation.
The collaboration is expected to generate new jobs in the agriculture sector so as to reduce the unemployment rate and improve the welfare of communities in villages.
He added that the programme will be implemented in five priority provinces, namely South Papua, Central Kalimantan, South Kalimantan, West Kalimantan, and South Sumatra.
The Indonesian minister affirmed that the modern agricultural cluster programme will significantly boost the contribution of agriculture to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), potentially increasing economic revenue by 30 to 40 times.
Currently, he noted, the economic circulation from upstream to downstream, including sectors such as services, transportation and agriculture, reaches 1.3 trillion IDR (79 million USD).
