Agriculture Minister: Merauke to Become Global Granary

Author: Dian Kencana
August 25, 2024

Rice fields in Merauke. (merauke.go.id)

SEAToday.com, Merauke - The Minister of Agriculture Andi Amran Sulaiman during a working visit to Merauke on August 18-19, reaffirmed the government's commitment to making Merauke Regency a global food barn. This two-day visit focused on evaluating the progress of optimizing 40,000 hectares of swamp land in six districts.

"We are optimistic that within two years, self-sufficiency plus will start from here," he emphasized.

During his working visit to Merauke, Amran has evaluated the progress of the optimization of 40,000 hectares of swamp land spread across six districts. To this day, more than half of the construction has been completed, with 6,500 hectares of land having been cultivated and planted with rice. The planting process will continue along with the completion of the harvest and the completion of the construction of agricultural infrastructure such as channels, bridges, and roads.

In addition to evaluating the land, Minister Amran also directly monitored the construction of agricultural supporting infrastructure, such as the 135.5 km road from Ilwayab to Ngguti. He inspected the condition of the waterways along the road and instructed that their width and depth be increased to ensure optimal availability of irrigation water.

“We are designing this as a long storage to irrigate the 1 million hectares of paddy fields we have created,” he explained.

As a strategic measure, he instructed the creation of one-hectare rice planting plots every five kilometers along the road. These plots will serve as demonstrations to prove the suitability of land in Merauke to support rice cultivation. Not only that, the land optimization program in the six districts, namely Merauke, Tanah Miring, Semangga, Kurik, Janggebob, and Malind, will be expanded from 40 thousand hectares to 100 thousand hectares.

With these intensive efforts, the government is optimistic that Merauke will progress as a national and even world rice barn and contribute to Indonesia's food security.