Forestry Minister Zulkifli Hasan said the government will prioritize the conversion of forest land into sugar cane plantations in order to reduce sugar imports which total millions of tons every year.
“If there are suitable plots of land, they must be converted into sugar plantations instead of into oil palm plantations,” said the minister after attending a national coordination meeting of forestry counselors in Jakarta, Thursday.
To support the policy, he said, provincial and district government chiefs were required to look for forest land in their respective areas that could be converted into sugar cane plantations.
Forest lands suitable for conversion into sugar cane plantations were those that did not have many standing trees anymore, in addition to their previous status as converted production forest areas. The minister made it clear that no peat land would be included in the policy.
Hasan added the policy of converting forest land into sugar cane plantation was made as an effort to make Indonesia self-reliant in sugar as imports of the commodity had reached an alarming rate in recent years. For the purpose, the requirement for sugar cane plantation through this plan needed at least 500,000 hectares.
According to Hasan, the policy of converting forest land into sugar cane plantation does not stand against the agreement with Norway in the reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation plus (REDD+) mechanism.
The minister emphasized the provision of the land for sugar cane plantation is important as part of the national food resilience program, in which the main aim is to curb imports.
Self-reliant on sugar is one of the 15 programs outlined in the first 100-day of the working priorities set out in the second term of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
