Agricom.id, PULANG PISAU – President of Indonesian Republic, Joko Widodo (Jokowi) did field visit to the Village of Belanti Siam, Sub district of Pandih Batu, District of Pulang Pisau, Central Kalimantan Province. It was about to see in person the food estate, the cultivation process, the paddy planting, fishery, and duck breeding.

“I return to Central Kalimantan Province today in District of Pulang Pisau to ensure that everything starts in the food estate," he said in the press release, Thursday (8/10/20) as in the official statement to Agricom.id.

President Jokowi told that the food estate in Central Kalimantan would be cultivated for about 168.000 hectares (ha). In 2020 the cultivation would cover 30.000 ha as the pilot project. The areas in Pulang Pisau would be 10.000 ha and Kapuas covers 20.000 ha.

"Here we stand, for instance, we use drone to fertilize, and floating tractor to cultivate the paddy field. I just asked (to the operator) how wide they could do and the operator said that it could be two hectares. This is called acceleration,” Jokowi said.

He also mentioned that the food estate is in the big scale and it needs modern equipment. There would be kinds of commodities to develop, such as, the food plantation, the horticulture, plantation, livestock, and fishery.

“Food estate would combine the paddy planting. Orange, onion, and coconut would be planted in the side path. We do hope that the farmers would produce not only paddy, but also orange, coconut, and others,” he said.

He also mentioned that the business model combination would be implemented in the food estate as the pilot project so that if it is successful, other regions would have the same.

District of Pulang Pisau and District of Kapuas have wide overlay and in flat. The water flows and it is fertile land. It would be bad if we do not advantage and cultivate the districts to be productive.

“From these, we hope that the farmers’ income would be better, not only from paddy, but also from onion, coconut, fish, and duck,” he said.

In other place, Minister of Agriculture, Syahrul Yasin Limpo (SYL) said that the food estate is one national strategic program in 2020-2024 to develop the food barn nationally.

“This is also about to provide employment in the villages, give the social protection, increase the farmers’ economy, and ensure the food security nationally,” he said.

He also mentioned that the food estate in the province is developed by the swamp optimization intensively to increase the production and planting index.

The agriculture is developed by the available modern technology. In the food estate, corporate business would be developed for the farmers by involving the groups per 100 hectares and the joint groups per 1000 ha.

“Everything would be in downstream system and the industries should be well designed. The food estate is developed as the pilot project and we have to develop the corporate system in big groups,” he mentioned.

The agriculture gave the positive progress about 16,24% in the second quarter (q to q) in the pandemic. So it needs special effort to maintain the food security and procurement to make the better people and peaceful situation.

“Every one of us should cooperate, work together within our consciousness to multiply the food stock nationally. Hopefully the epidemic would end as soon as possible, normal, and the people’s economy could run well again,” SYL said. (A2)