Tangerang. In addition to increasing imports, the Indonesian government is opening new lands in Merauke, Papua to achieve food self-sufficiency targets. Merauke, previously the site of a large-scale program during President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s era known as the Merauke Integrated Food and Energy Estate (MIFEE), saw the program run for only three to four years before corporate entities withdrew due to losses.

Agricultural economics expert Khudori suggested that one effective measure to enhance national food security would be to reassess the food estate lands that the government has developed since the New Order era.

“What has been established should be continued and analyzed. For instance, the 1,000,000 hectares of peatland opened during the New Order era in 1995-96, after evaluation, only a quarter was truly suitable for agriculture,” Khudori said during Investor Market Today on IDTV.

Khudori emphasized the need for the government to develop agricultural programs, particularly food estates, based on data science and research. Without scientific research, decisions may lead to environmental issues. He cited the case of Gunung Mas regency, where the Trade Ministry opened land that turned out to be quartz sand, unsuitable for cultivation.

“It is crucial to reassess food estate lands because there are many of them,” Khudori noted.

He criticized the general failure of food estate programs from the New Order era to President Joko Widodo’s administration, attributing the failures to the government’s rushed approach. Instead of prioritizing infrastructure, Khudori suggested that research teams should first gather data to determine the design and feasibility of these programs to avoid failure.

“Research teams should arrive earlier to collect data, and from that data, the design and planning should be determined to prevent failure,” he concluded.