Water, a vital resource for food sufficiency

The Prabowo-Gibran administration is determined to make all efforts to make the country self-sufficient in food by 2028.

Jakarta (ANTARA) –
It is natural that countries around the world, including Indonesia, seek food self-sufficiency, which is a crucial element for the survival of a nation.

The new Indonesian government is committed to achieving the Asta Cita or Eight Primary Missions promoted by President Prabowo Subianto and Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka during their election campaign.

The objectives include strengthening food self-sufficiency.

In addition to internal factors, the government's decision to prioritize food sufficiency is the result of an increasingly dire geopolitical situation, marked by the protracted war between Russia and Ukraine and the domino effect of Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the Middle East.

Burning tensions between countries have disrupted the distribution of fertilizer raw materials, which, in turn, has negatively impacted crops and food production.

Worse still, the impacts of climate change, such as reduced precipitation in areas where fields are rainfed, have posed obstacles to cultivation.

With this in mind, the Prabowo-Gibran administration is determined to make all possible efforts to make the country self-sufficient in food by 2028.

The measures taken by the government to achieve this objective have notably consisted of accelerating the development of hydraulic infrastructure, in particular multi-purpose dams.

Placing hopes in the construction of a dam

Under the leadership of 7th President Joko Widodo and 13th Vice President Ma'ruf Amin, Indonesia has built 53 dams out of the targeted 61 between 2015 and 2024, with an average of six dams built per year.

Today, President Prabowo asked his aides to accelerate the development of the remaining eight dams, including the Jlantah Dam in Karanganyar District, Central Java.

Once completed, Jlantah Dam will have the capacity to store up to 10.97 million cubic meters of water and irrigate 1,494 hectares of rain-fed rice fields in three sub-districts of Karanganyar.

The government has also started to accelerate the construction of two other infrastructures in Aceh province: the Rukoh Dam and the Keureuto Dam.

The Rukoh Dam, being developed in Pidie district, will have the capacity to store 128 million cubic meters of water and will serve as a source of irrigation for 11,950 hectares of agricultural areas.

Meanwhile, Keureuto Dam in North Aceh district, with a water reserve capacity of 215.94 million cubic meters, is expected to irrigate 9,455 hectares of agricultural land nearby.

Additionally, the government is accelerating the development of the Way Apu Dam in Buru District, Maluku Province. Once operational, the dam will be able to irrigate up to 10,000 hectares of land.

By completing the construction of the 61 dams, the government aims to store 3.69 billion cubic meters of water, irrigate 395,669 hectares of agricultural soil and supply 51.88 cubic meters of raw water per second.

Besides supporting efforts to strengthen food sufficiency and increase irrigation capacity, accelerating the development of multifunctional dams is also expected to indirectly increase food production.

Indeed, the government plans to install solar power plants on water infrastructure to produce green ammonia, a raw material used in a variety of fertilizers that farmers need to improve food production.

In short, people can expect that the rapid construction of the remaining dams will bring the country closer to fertilizer self-sufficiency, which, in turn, could lead to fertilizers being available at more affordable prices for farmers.

Improving irrigation networks

Accelerating dam construction is not the end of the process for the government to achieve food self-sufficiency. Implementation of labor-intensive programs to improve irrigation networks is also essential.

Let us think in this regard of the Irrigation Water Use Acceleration Improvement Program (P3TGAI), the primary objective of which is to help farmers meet their irrigation water needs through the revitalization or development of tertiary and rural irrigation networks.

According to the plan, the Prabowo-Gibran government will continue the implementation of P3-TGAI in around 10,000 locations next year, aiming to strengthen food security.

In addition to contributing to the improvement of irrigation networks needed to transport raw water from dams to rice fields, the P3-TGAI was also designed as an economic program.

It is expected to increase people's incomes and create new jobs for people living in rural areas, thereby helping to increase their purchasing power.

In summary, President Prabowo and Vice President Gibran have set the goal of achieving food self-sufficiency by 2028. To achieve this, their government has decided to accelerate the construction of dams.

Two main objectives clearly emerge from this decision, namely to strengthen the productivity of rainfed fields and to ensure self-sufficiency in fertilizers through the use of new and renewable energies.

However, the presence of dams must be complemented by the operation of reliable irrigation networks to ensure optimal distribution of water from dams to fields.

Among the measures that will be taken by the government to improve the irrigation networks is the continued implementation of the P3-TGAI, a program that will also provide economic benefits to farmers and the general population.

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Translator: Aji C, Tegar Nurfitra
Editor: Arie Novarina
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