Sri Mulyani: President-Elect Prabowo Subianto to Maintain Food Estate Program, Budget Allocation Rp124.4T

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Indonesia's Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani Indrawati said the government had coordinated with President-elect Prabowo Subianto about several programs the administration would run, including food supply chain and strengthening food security. She said Prabowo will focus on two new commodities, rice and corn. 

The program has been covered in the State Budget Bill for 2025. “Comprising 435,000 hectares of rice field and 250,000 hectares for corn,” Sri Mulyani said during a meeting with DPR on Tuesday, August 27, 2024. 

The government also allotted Rp124.4 trillion for the food estate program. “Especially to open land equipped with dams and irrigation system and to establish food estate and finance access to farmers and for the national food reserve,” she said. 

The food estate program initiated by President Joko Widodo has experienced crop failure. On January 23, the Director of Central Kalimantan The food barn program launched by President Joko Widodo in the second period had a problem and crop failure. On January 23, 2024, Director of the Central Kalimantan Forum for Environment Bayu Herinata said the Gunung Mas Food Estate project was an ‘utter failure.’

According to Bayu, from 2021 to 2023, the food estate never managed to produce cassava. However, Bayu said the government tried to cover up the failure by replanting cassava and corn. The corn was harvested by Minister of Agriculture Andi Amran Sulaiman a few days ago. 

Meanwhile, Bayu was informed that the corn was not intended for consumption but for food processing industry purposes. "The point is, facts on the ground show that Gunung Mas food estate is a failure," Bayu said, adding that the government has opened a forest to carry out the program. 

Therefore, Bayu said there’s no need to continue the food estate project. "It’s irrelevant,  there’s no urgency behind the project,” Bayu said. 

Aside from the food estate, Sri Mulyani said Prabowo has two other flagship programs. The programs are free meals, food resilience, and top schools.

“The free meal is designed to support intelligent human resources, revive the local and regional economy, and rely on MSMEs," Sri Mulyani said. The budget for this program is Rp71 trillion.

Meanwhile, the minister said Prabowo Subianto also prioritizes school revitalization for his administration. The budget for this program is Rp20.3 trillion.

ADIL AL HASAN | RIRI RAHAYU

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