Deputy Minister of Transmigration, Viva Yoga Mauladi, on Monday (24/2/25,) said that his ministry has secured investment from Swiss investors who need 10,000 hectares of land for developing cocoa plantations, adding that a processing factory will also be constructed on the land, which will create jobs for the local community, according to reporting from Antara News.
“The model of business development cooperation like this is still wide open in transmigration areas,” he said, urging Indonesian entrepreneurs to expand their businesses in transmigration areas through investment.
He noted that industrial development outside of Java was a goal set by Indonesia’s first vice president, Mohammad Hatta, in 1946.
“At that time, Mr. Hatta said that large-scale industrialization needs to be developed outside of Java, and it requires relocating the Javanese population to serve as the labor force,” he said.
He added that under President Prabowo Subianto’s administration, the transmigration program aims to reduce poverty, improve people’s living standards, and support key development programs, as well as food self-sufficiency, says Antara News.
According to data from Statistics Indonesia (BPS), many transmigration areas have now become national food estates outside Java Island, he said.
“We just need to collaborate with food estates so that we can achieve food self-sufficiency,” he added.
From the transmigration lands developed by the government in previous years, 1,567 villages, 466 sub-districts, 116 districts/cities, and three transmigration provinces have been established, he said.
“These three provinces are West Sulawesi, North Kalimantan, and South Papua. These regions are now becoming centers for economic growth,” he said.
The Transmigration Ministry sent off 132 household heads out of seven thousand who registered for the transmigration program in 2024.
Since the government officially started the transmigration program in 1950, nine million people from 2.2 million households have been relocated from Java and Bali to other provinces across Indonesia.
Source: Antara News
