Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto has targeted to develop 1.4 million hectares (ha) of cassava plantations by 2025.
"I just want to elaborate on the cassava plantation development plan. In Central Kalimantan, we plan to start it in 2021 on 30 thousand hectares of land. The area will continue to be expanded, and by 2025, we will have 1.4 million hectares. That is the plan," Subianto stated after attending the virtual limited meeting on food estate development here on Wednesday.
Subianto spoke of being tasked by President Joko Widodo to handle the development of cassava plantations as food reserves under the food estate project.
"We have explained about the roadmap in Central Kalimantan, and the governor of Central Kalimantan has supported the plan by providing land and to backup (its implementation) on the field. Hence, we are ready to start," he stated.
Subianto remarked that cassava can be processed into tapioca flour as a raw material for food products.
"Cassava can be processed to make bread, cassava-based artificial rice, and noodles. Indonesia is the second-largest noodle consumer in the world. We want to ensure that we are not dependent on foreign supply. We are optimistic that this would work," he remarked.
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