TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Agriculture Minister Amran Sulaiman said some 6,000 hectares of farmlands and plantations in several regions of Central Sulawesi were damaged due to the Palu earthquake and tsunami. The disaster mostly destroyed agricultural lands.

“We will help with the land rehabilitation,” said Amran when met at Balai Besar Pasca Panen in the Agriculture Ministry building, Bogor, West Java, Monday, Oct 15. The recovery process would depend on condition of the farmlands, he said.

Besides land rehabilitation, Amran pledged to hand out seeds and fertilizers to farmers whose lands were damaged by the disaster. “We have made a plan, [distributing] free seeds, including rice, coffee, pepper,” he said.

Read: Govt to Build Permanent Houses for Palu Quake Victims

An earthquake followed by a tsunami struck Palu and and its outskirts on September 28, 2018. To date, the death toll reached some 2,000 and more than 16,000 people were evacuated. Besides agricultural lands, the salt ponds in the region were also destroyed, which prompted the Marine Affairs and Fisheries Ministry to initiate a rehabilitation program.

Amran added the ministry had deployed teams to the disaster-hit regions and built 40 posts to help with emergency responses and cope with thousands of damaged agricultural lands. “We have collected aid worth Rp25 billion, not from the state budget, but personal funding,” he said.

AJAR PEBRIANTO