Jakarta, – The government continues to accelerate the development of national water infrastructure as a concrete effort to achieve food sovereignty and self-sufficiency. Through the Indonesian Ministry of Public Works (PU), various strategic steps are being taken to strengthen irrigation networks and ensure water availability for the agricultural sector throughout Indonesia.
PU Minister Dody Hanggodo emphasized that the construction and rehabilitation of irrigation networks is a follow-up to Presidential Instruction (Inpres) Number 2 of 2025, recently signed by Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto. This Presidential Instruction specifically regulates the acceleration of the development of the national irrigation system to support food security.
“The government’s main focus now is to ensure that all irrigation networks are connected to previously constructed dams and reservoirs, so that water flows properly to people’s agricultural lands,” Dody explained.
According to him, there are still a number of dams that are not yet connected to the irrigation networks below them. Therefore, through this Presidential Instruction, the government wants to ensure that the benefits of dams can be directly felt by farmers.
“Not all of the dams we built in the past were connected to the rice fields below. That was also the President’s directive,” he said.
In the past year, the Ministry of Public Works has completed around 49 new irrigation projects, with 5 to 6 of these still needing to be connected to the existing network. In addition, the ministry is also rehabilitating the old network to ensure its optimal function in supporting the national food self-sufficiency target.
Dody welcomed the issuance of Presidential Instruction No. 2 of 2025 as an important step in strengthening water and irrigation management in the regions.
“While Presidential Instruction No. 1 concerns budget efficiency, Presidential Instruction No. 2 specifically addresses irrigation. With this regulation, the central government can participate in managing irrigation, which was previously the responsibility of the regions,” he said.
This policy also opens up opportunities for the development of groundwater irrigation networks in areas without surface water sources. One approach is drilling groundwater deeper than 100 meters to irrigate rain-fed rice fields.
In addition to large-scale projects, Dody highlighted the importance of community involvement in the Irrigation Water Utilization Acceleration Program (P3-TGAI). This program prioritizes the participation of local farmers in the development of tertiary irrigation networks without the use of heavy equipment.
“President Prabowo always emphasizes the need for regional economic development. Farmers should not be mere spectators, but should become active players in development,” said Dody.
This community-based approach is expected to accelerate the equitable distribution of development benefits while encouraging local economic growth in rural areas.
Dody emphasized that strengthening the irrigation sector is a direct implementation of President Prabowo Subianto’s Asta Cita vision, particularly points 2 and 3 concerning food self-sufficiency and infrastructure development.
“If we are skilled at managing water resources, food independence will, God willing, be easily achieved. This aligns with Mr. Prabowo’s Asta Cita on national food and energy sovereignty, which are the foundation of Indonesia’s economic independence,” he emphasized.
He concluded with optimism that hard work in realizing Asta Cita will bring Indonesia to a golden era more quickly.
“If we truly work hard, I’m confident Indonesia can achieve Golden Indonesia even before 2045,” Dody concluded.
