We hope that the President will take out time to hand over a social forestry decree ..."Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Darmin Nasution has assured that social forestry programmes to reduce economic disparities will continue to be developed outside Java Island.
"We hope that the President will take out time to hand over a social forestry decree to farmer groups outside the Java Island," he said here on Friday (March 9).
He added that the current social forestry programmes covering 1.4 million hectares will continue to be expanded, not only for farmer groups, but also for customary forest schemes.
Previously, President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) had submitted a Decree on Social Forestry Utilisation to 13 farmer groups in Bojonegoro, Blitar and Malang in East Java province, with a total area of 8,975.8 hectares.
The letter included 1,494.2 hectares in Bojonegoro district for 1,342 households, 1,399.6 hectares in Blitar district for 1,284 families, and 6,092 hectares in Malang district for 6,517 households.
The government will pursue allocation target of 12.7 million hectares for social forestry in various regions of Indonesia, so that the people in the forest areas can gain access to land to support their prosperity.
During a visit on Friday, President Jokowi also conducted corn harvest with the community in Ngimbang village, Tuban, that had previously received a social forestry decree. The farmer group of Ngimbang Makmur, including 147 families, had received the decree in 2017, and has an area of 77.25 hectares.
Through the land use under social forestry programme, people in the area have already planted maize, sengon, and teak trees by implementing intercropping method. "An area of 7.5 hectares can produce 33.75 tonnes of corn or about 4.5 tonnes per hectare," the minister said.
(Reported by Satyagraha/Uu.M052/INE//KR-BSR/B003)
Reporter: Martha Herlinawati S
Editor: Priyambodo RH
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