"After we got briefed by President Prabowo about food and energy self-sufficiency, my team and I are moving to identify (areas) with potential in food and energy self-sufficiency," he informed at a food coordination meeting in Jakarta on Thursday.
He said that his ministry is currently seeking to identify areas that can be utilized for food crop cultivation.
"Our team has been working in the last two weeks to identify social forestry areas that are suitable for food crops," Antoni added.
The minister also spoke about the alternative energy reserve forest initiative, which involves the utilization of sugar palms, which can be used to produce bioethanol.
The potential of sugar palm is known to not only be limited to food, but also the energy sector as sugar palm sap can be fermented into bioethanol, which is a renewable energy source.
The coordination meeting was led by Coordinating Minister for Food, Zulkifli Hasan, and was also attended by other ministers of the Red and White Cabinet, including Environment Minister Hanif Faisol Nurofiq and Agriculture Minister Andi Amran Sulaiman.
Achieving food self-sufficiency is one of the goals being pursued by the Indonesian government under the presidency of Prabowo Subianto.
Earlier, while delivering his inaugural address here on October 20, 2024, the President expressed optimism that Indonesia will achieve food self-sufficiency in four to five years.
The Ministry of Agriculture has said that it will cultivate a total of 2.3 million hectares of rice fields to achieve the food self-sufficiency target.
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Translator: Sinta Ambarwati, Raka Adji
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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