"The target of 188 thousand hectares will be supported by the improvement of irrigation, pumping, and provision of production infrastructure and facilities," he said during a meeting with the acting governor of NTT, Andriko Noto Susanto, here on Wednesday, according to a statement issued on Thursday.
The minister noted that NTT has great potential in the agricultural sector. With this potential, rice production in the region can be accelerated to meet demand within the region and even contribute to achieving the national production target.
He called for synergy between the central government, regional governments, the Indonesian Military (TNI), the National Police (Polri), and various other parties to make the agricultural development program a success.
Sulaiman also invited the regional heads of NTT province, who were also present at the meeting, to formulate acceleration steps for the agricultural sector for this year.
He emphasized that if the agricultural sector in NTT is developed, it would not only impact food self-sufficiency, but also poverty alleviation, which is one of the crucial issues in the province.
"We know that NTT is an agrarian region, 85 percent dominated by the agriculture, livestock, and fishery sectors. If we work on this well, poverty can be tackled. The poverty rate there is approximately 20 percent," he highlighted.
Going forward, he said, the government is targeting to push the poverty rate below 10 percent or even 5 percent in 5 years.
Meanwhile, Susanto affirmed that the provincial government will pursue the target of cultivating around 188 thousand hectares of paddy fields in 2025.
"There is still potential to create new paddy fields, but we will save it for the next years," he added.
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Translator: Muhammad Harianto, Raka Adji
Editor: Primayanti
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