TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo will resume the development of the Food Estate in Merauke, Papua.

"We haven't talked about the productions, but we are focusing on rice and sugarcane productions. The potential for Food Estate is 2 million hectares, however, initial development would be 200,000 hectares," said the Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto when met after a limited meeting in Jakarta today, October 10.

During a National Agriculture Development Meeting in 2021, Jokowi also asked Merauke Regency in Papua to become a national food shed along with two other locations in Central Kalimantan and North Sumatra. "The President wants an integrated area with a focus on food and energy," said Acting Minister of Agriculture Arief Prasetyo Adi, also present in the meeting today.

Airlangga mentioned that the financing for this project will utilize the public-private partnership. However, Deputy Minister of SOEs Kartika Wirjoatmodjo mentioned that the government has not appointed the leader for the Food Estate project.

This project was intended to boost rice and food production. During its development, the Food Estate program has resulted in tens of thousands of rice fields but bore little result.

Food Estate has been slammed by politicians Hasto Kristiyanto and Muhaimin Iskandar. "We need to push food productivity on a massive scale, not food estate," Muhaimin said when met on September 27.

Meanwhile, Greenpeace previously mentioned that this project has been proven unsuccessful in several regions, due to a lack of credible research. "It's always rushed," said Greenpeace campaigner Arie Rompas when called by Tempo on September 28.

DANIEL A. FAJRI, IHSAN RELIUBUN

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