Statement of President of the Republic of Indonesia during Inspection of Corn Planting in Belu Food Estate, Belu Regency, East Nusa Tenggara Province, March 24, 2022

This afternoon, I am in Belu regency, East Nusa Tenggara province. We have cleared 53 hectares of land to be planted with corn. And, irrigation system of the cornfield uses sprinkler which water is sourced from Rotiklot Dam that I have inaugurated. In the future, we will go for an expansion to 500 hectares. If the food estate produces good yield, we will adopt it to other regions which have this type of flat land to15,000 hectares of land.

I suppose if we dare to use technology, to cultivate a more challenging type of land, such as in East Nusa Tenggara province, we will discover areas of improvement, and suitable agricultural tools and machinery for the type of soil in East Nusa Tenggara.

I belief the food estate will not only improve people’s welfare in East Nusa Tenggara province, particularly in Belu regency but also will strengthen national food resilience through the opening of new cropland as in the province, Belu regency.

We look forward to the yield per hectare. Then, we will calculate profit of the farmers from it and expand the area.

That concludes my statement on this auspicious occasion.

I thank you.

(RAS/MMB)