TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Agriculture Minister Amran Sulaiman said that the ministry needed at least two million hectares of land to develop agriculture sector.

According to Amran, the land would be used to build 10 sugar and palm oil plantations.

Amran also said that to build 10 sugar plants, the government needed at least up to 500,000 hectares of land.

"The total capacity (of those plants) can reach 10,000 to 12,000 ton of cane per day (TCD)," Amran said after a limited meeting with President Joko Widodo at the Presidential Palace.

It is planned that the plants would be built in Sulawesi because based on the agro-climate considerations, Sulawesi is considered suitable to build them.

In addition to building 10 sugar plants, the government, he said, also planned to build "food estate" in Kalimantan with the need for land also reaching 500,000 hectares of land and to build palm oil plants and palm oil plantations that require 1 million hectares of land.

"So, in total, we need 2 million hectares of land,” he said.

The project to build those plants is estimated to begin by the end of the year and is expected to start operating in the next five years.

Regarding investors, Amran acknowledged that he would offer the project to PT Perkebunan Nusantara and the private sector. However, he said that the government would prioritize domestic investors.

FAIZ NASHRILLAH