Indonesia steps up irrigation work to protect farms amid El Nino
The Public Works and Agriculture ministries are jointly assessing water needs, while a presidential instruction supports faster local irrigation upgrades.
Indonesia is expanding and improving irrigation infrastructure to maintain water supplies for farms during El Nino and support food self-sufficiency, Deputy Public Works Minister Diana Kusumastuti said.
Speaking after a Jakarta meeting on regional infrastructure coordination, Kusumastuti said the Public Works and Agriculture ministries were assessing which farmland needed water infrastructure. Their assessments consider land conditions, agricultural production potential and water requirements on the ground.
She said the Public Works Ministry builds irrigation channels at the primary, secondary and tertiary levels to deliver water efficiently to productive farmland. Developing and upgrading these networks remained a nationwide priority because water availability was central to farm output, she added.
The government is also carrying out Presidential Instruction No. 2 of 2025, which seeks to accelerate irrigation improvements under district and city government authority. Kusumastuti said the rehabilitation and construction work was intended to improve food security and increase agricultural output sustainably.
The ministries are also identifying locations that need irrigation development or new paddy fields to better target infrastructure support. Kusumastuti said they would continue strengthening cooperation to protect agricultural productivity and advance food self-sufficiency.
