The Ministry of Agriculture (Kementan) noted that the conversion of agricultural land to the range of 90 thousand to 100 thousand hectares per year. The conversion of agricultural land is one of the threats to the agricultural sector in increasing production to meet people's needs. "Land conversion is very worrying. If this is not addressed, it will reduce production," said the Head of Research and Development Center for Agricultural Land Resources of the Ministry of Agriculture, Husnain, in a virtual press conference, Friday (30/12/2022).
He did not deny that one of the conversions of paddy fields was used to support the construction of infrastructure such as toll roads. However, this is a national program so that rice fields must be compensated to other areas.
The Ministry of Agriculture is also trying to build new land, one of which is through the opening of new food estates or food storages in Central Kalimantan and Central Sumba. However, it is recognized that building a new food barn takes time to produce optimal results.
On the other hand, he revealed, the government through the ATR/BPN Ministry is currently preparing the main paddy fields. Currently, the government has only set a standard rice field area of 7.46 million hectares.
"This main paddy field will later be handled differently, of course it cannot be converted," he added.
In addition, the Ministry of Agriculture also continues to work on land intensification by increasing rice productivity through superior seeds. This intensification can especially be done in Java because the land is very fertile for various food commodities.
The last step is to try to reduce rice consumption per capita. "There is a calculation that if the Indonesian people can reduce rice consumption per capita, it will make rice needs more efficient," he said.
