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Hashim to defend Prabowo’s food estate program against environmental concerns
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Toward food security: Farmers harvest corn on July 6, 2023, in Wambes village, Mannem district, Keerom regency, Papua. The village hosted a trial of the national food estate program aimed at ensuring food security in the eastern part of the country. (Antara/Sakti Karuru)
P
resident Prabowo Subianto has appointed his brother, Hashim Djojohadikusumo, as a special envoy to the United Nations COP29 climate summit set to be held in the Azerbaijani capital of Baku from Nov. 11-22.
Hashim said he would raise several issues during the summit, including accusations of environmental degradation leveled against the food estate program.
“[I will] also refute several [reports] of deforestation allegations that have made the food estate program appear destructive. The Indonesian government disagrees with those [allegations]. We can establish food estates while protecting the environment,” he said in Jakarta on Thursday, as reported by Detik Finance.
Indonesia is planning for Papua to play a critical role in the national food program. Last month, Coordinating Food Minister Zulkifli Hasan announced a five-year plan to develop 2 million hectares of paddy fields in the Papuan region to achieve food self-sufficiency, a key policy goal of President Prabowo.
The project marks a shift in the geographical focus of the government’s food production plans, which previously revolved around developing large-scale plantations on the islands of Sumatra and Borneo but is now focused on the eastern part of the country.
Read also: New senior minister eyes Papua to achieve food self-sufficiency
Hashim will lead around 570 delegates, representing President Prabowo, who will attend the G20 Rio de Jeneiro summit in Brazil. The President will also attend the APEC Leaders Meeting in Lima, Peru.
