Jakarta – The government continues to intensify the development of agricultural infrastructure as a strategic step to increase productivity and achieve national food self-sufficiency. One of the concrete steps taken was through the visit of the Acting Director General of Plantations at the Ministry of Agriculture, Heru Tri Widarto, who directly monitored the progress of the land optimization project (Oplah) and normalization of water channels in Naga Timbul Village, Tanjung Morawa District, Deli Serdang Regency, North Sumatra.
The project targets a 120-hectare agricultural area that has so far only been able to be planted once a year due to limited irrigation systems and access to agricultural equipment. By normalizing water channels and improving basic infrastructure such as farm roads, the government is targeting that planting intensity in this area can increase to two or even three times a year.
“Infrastructure such as water channels and farm roads play a crucial role in supporting the efficiency of agricultural production. With a good water management system, agricultural machinery can enter the land and help farmers increase their productivity and income,” Heru explained.
According to Heru, the physical progress of the construction has now reached 50 percent and is targeted to be completed in the near future. The timely completion of this project is considered very important so that farmers can immediately use it for the next planting season.
This strategic step shows the government’s strong commitment to building a sustainable and adaptive agricultural system to climate challenges and global dynamics. Starting from strengthening the foundation of infrastructure, it is expected that national agricultural productivity will be boosted significantly.
In line with that, Minister of Agriculture, Andi Amran Sulaiman, emphasized that the land optimization program is an integral part of the national strategy in strengthening food security. He said that improving basic infrastructure is an important foundation in accelerating the achievement of self-sufficiency targets.
“Land optimization is one of the government’s real efforts to reopen agricultural potential that has been hampered by technical problems. With smooth water, open access to agricultural machinery, farmers can plant many times, production increases, and welfare improves. We will accelerate this program throughout Indonesia,” said Minister of Agriculture Amran.
In addition to increasing planting intensity, infrastructure improvements also encourage efficient distribution of harvests and reduce farmers’ production costs. This has a direct impact on increasing the competitiveness of local agricultural products and encouraging rural economic growth.
In the future, the Ministry of Agriculture will continue to expand the scope of the Land Optimization program to other potential areas in Indonesia. With cross-sector support and active community participation, it is hoped that the transformation of the agricultural sector can take place comprehensively.
As a form of transparency and public accountability, the government opens access to information as widely as possible regarding the agricultural infrastructure development program. The community and business actors are expected to support the success of Agricultural Infrastructure in order to realize national food self-sufficiency.