South Kalimantan Police sets a record, harvesting 41 tons corn in wetlands

South Kalimantan Police Chief Inspector General Rosyanto Yudha Hermawan together with forkopimda leads corn harvesting in the wetlands of Gambut Sub-district, Banjar District, Thursday (June 5, 2025). (ANTARA/Firman)

Banjarmasin, S Kalimatan (ANTARA) - The South Kalimantan Regional Police set a record for agricultural innovation by harvesting 41.985 tons of corn in swamp wetland, the first in Indonesia for horticultural crop cultivation.

"Alhamdulillah, we can prove that by working together and seriously we can succeed even though it seem difficult at first," said South Kalimantan Police Chief Inspector General Rosyanto Yudha Hermawan while leading corn harvest in the wetland on Jalan Gubernur Syarkawi km 17, Gambut Sub-district, Banjar District, Thursday.

This location, he said, was previously an unproductive idle land that always burned in dry season and it haze disrupted flights in Syamsudin Noor Airport.

After the National Police and Ministry of Agriculture launched a simultaneous national planting of one million hectares of corn, the provincial police chief then leading South Kalimantan Police Food Security Task Force to map out land could be planted.

Related news: South Kalimantan Police ready to harvest 32 tons corn in wetland

A collaboration with Regional State Intelligence Agency (Binda), Lambung Mangkurat University (ULM) and private companies resulted a decision of the South Kalimantan Police to make use of idle swampland on Jalan Gubernur Syarkawi to plant corn.

"The research by ULM's Faculty of Agriculture expert team found varieties that are resistant to excess water supported by right planting technology, finally we managed to harvest today," Yudha remarked.

The first planting that harvested was 7.8 hectares from the initial plan of 120 hectares.

The police plans to add corn planting area to 170 hectares at the location to support national food self-sufficiency as an implementation of President Prabowo Subianto's Asta Cita.

He revealed that many landowners have offered their land for cooperation after seeing the success of today's corn harvest.

"We have mapped out around 5,400 hectares of idle land ready to be worked on in various district in South Kalimantan," he said.

Regarding absorption of the harvest, he aassured that there are already a number of parties ready to buy it, including Bulog which provided storage warehouse.

South Kalimantan DPRD Speaker Supian HK appreciated the police for its success of agricultural innovation supporting Asta Cita.

"We the people's representative in the legislature certainly encourage full support from the regional government so that this program can be sustainable which ultimately make farmers more prosperous," he said.

Meawhile, the South Kalimantan Police participated in a simultaneous corn harvest and the launch of Indonesia’s first corn exports to Malaysia in Bengkayang district, West Kalimantan, on Thursday.

Prabowo noted that in 2024, the country imported around 500 thousand tons of corn. However, he said, Minister Sulaiman and chief of the National Police, Listyo Sigit Prabowo, have notified him that the country will no longer need to import corn from 2026.

The National Police is supporting the government on a large-scale corn cultivation project, the One Million Hectare Corn Planting Program, to boost production.