Indonesia: Boosting food security

Indonesia plans to develop a major food farm covering more than 164,000 hectares on the island of Borneo after warnings of a potential food crisis due to the coronavirus outbreak, the Agriculture Ministry said.

The project in Central Kalimantan province will boost output from about 85,000 hectares of existing farmland and add 79,000 hectares, including from previously drained peat land, the ministry said.

The government will cultivate a range of food crops, including staples, Kuntoro Boga Andri, a spokesman for the Agriculture Ministry, said in a statement.

“We are talking about a food estate that will not only have rice and corn,” he said, adding that it would include fruit and vegetables and animal farms.

The government developed a similar food farm in Papua province and has plans to develop more.  Reuters