Jakarta. Indonesia is optimistic about becoming self-sufficient in its food supply within three years’ time. 

The archipelagic country -- which is home to the world’s fourth-largest population -- is making efforts to boost food crop production and reduce reliance on imports, Agricultural Minister Andi Amran Sulaiman said on Thursday.

Among the efforts is installing more water pumps.

“We should achieve food self-sufficiency no later than three years from now,” Amran said in Tangerang on Thursday.

Amran told the press that the pumping program would be a quick solution to better food self-sufficiency as it would help water dry lands. Farmers should be able to harvest their crops more than once a year, even reaching two or three times.

“Indonesia’s dry land spans around 1 million hectares, about 500,000 hectares of which are in Java, while the other half is outside Java,” Amran said.

His ministry is currently trying to take better advantage of its swamps to boost rice production. The government intends to optimize 400,000 hectares of swamp land for rice plantation by improving the existing irrigation system.

According to Amran, the Agricultural Ministry also plans to expand the country’s agricultural land by another 3 million. It will start off with 1 million hectares of new agricultural land per year starting in 2025.

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