Imipas targets idle prison land for food, inflation control
UI-backed research says the program could involve 25,000 inmates and use 8.6 million hectares of idle land.
The Ministry of Immigration and Corrections is targeting self-sufficiency in food production at prisons, detention centers and immigration offices to help hold down staple prices through farming, fisheries and livestock. At a forum in Jakarta on Tuesday, Imipas Minister Agus Andrianto said output, including eggs from laying-hen farms at several prisons and detention centers, is already being used for internal needs and is starting to be sold to nearby communities. Presidential Chief of Staff Dudung Abdurachman backed the program as a model for other ministries. He pointed to the potential of about 8.6 million hectares of idle state land and 25,000 inmates who could be involved. The program was discussed in a focus group discussion following research by the Demography Institute of the Faculty of Economics and Business, Universitas Indonesia, on implementing food security within Imipas.