The Transmigration Ministry is focusing on the country's eastern regions in line with the President's instruction to meet the overall goal of food security, according to minister Iftitah, who also says the transmigration program could expand beyond food production to other sectors, such as tourism.
he Transmigration Ministry is considering recruiting and relocating people to work on a variety of government projects outside Java, including on food estates to support its food self-sufficiency drive.
Transmigration Minister M. Iftitah Sulaiman Suryanegara said the government of President Prabowo Subianto would not distribute agricultural land like the administration of former president Soeharto, under which each household received 2 hectares of land in a designated area.
The government was mulling over a plan to recruit domestic migrants “because there is a goal [to achieve] food self-sufficiency”, the minister said on Tuesday after a meeting at the House of Representatives, as quoted by Tempo.co.
Read also: Prabowo optimistic about food estate program, self-sufficiency
The food estate program was just one of the many projects that could involve workers from other regions, Iftitah said, adding that the government would be preparing jobs in other sectors, not just agriculture.
“It doesn't have to be clearing land [for a food estate], it could be that transmigrants will later support the tourism program,” he said.
Iftitah said the ministry had received instruction from President Prabowo Subianto to focus on the transmigration program in the eastern regions, especially Papua, in an effort to create equitable welfare across the country.
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