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AKARTA: The government is set to build a total of 3.97 hectares of small artificial lakes across Indonesia in an effort to optimize the productivity of rainfed agricultural land.

Agriculture Minister Amran Sulaiman said the reservoirs would be built with Rp 22 trillion (US$1.69 billion) allocated from next year’s state budget. The construction would start next year and is expected to be completed within two years.

“The rainfed agricultural land, which usually can be cultivated only once a year, could hopefully be in production twice a year,” Amran told reporters after a meeting with President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo at the State Palace in Jakarta on Tuesday.

The minister said the government would build at least 1 million ha of reservoirs on rainfed land, which has no irrigation, across Java. The government would build more reservoirs on Sumatra, Sulawesi and Kalimantan.

“They will be spread across the country, including Papua,” Amran said.

He said the government wanted to improve water irrigation to optimize the country’s agricultural production as instructed by President Jokowi. — JP