100,000 HECTARES OF FARMLAND LOST ANNUALLY

YOGYAKARTA: Indonesia could face food crisis in the next three years because each year
100,000 hectares of farmland changes function as the population expands, the Agriculture
Ministry has warned.
Head of the Agricultural Counseling and Human Resources Development Agency at the
Agriculture Ministry Winny Dian Wibawa said the situation was exacerbated by declining
productivity as a result of extensive damage to irrigation channels, poor quality seedlings and
a lack of human resource development.
Our farmland is vanishing, as 100,000 hectares of farmland are converted into shopping
malls and shops every year, Winny said on the sidelines of an event at Gadjah Mada
University on Friday.
She added that without serious efforts to improve the situation in the next three years, there
was the grave threat of a food crisis.
So, for the next three years, the government should seriously focus on building food selfsufficiency, said Winny.
The program should be initiated with self-sufficiency in rice, corn and soybeans, she said.