No plan to import 1.8 mln tons of milk from Vietnam: Ministry

Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Ministry of Agriculture has emphasized that the government has no plan to import 1.8 million tons of milk from Vietnam to support the Free Nutritious Meals program initiated by President Prabowo Subianto.

The ministry's Head of Public Relations and Public Information Bureau, Moch. Arief Cahyono, stated in a statement here on Sunday that his ministry does not have a plan to import but rather invites investors from Vietnam to build the dairy industry in the country.

"The policy that the Ministry of Agriculture initiated is inviting investors from Vietnam to build the dairy industry in Indonesia with the goal of increasing the national milk production, not importing milk," he explained.

Cahyono gave the clarification so that the community does not misinterpret the statement of Agriculture Minister Andi Amran Sulaiman regarding investment from a Vietnamese company to produce milk amounting to 1.8 million tons.

He noted that the minister emphasized that cooperation between Indonesia and Vietnam focuses on increasing production capacity in the country to reach food self-sufficiency in accordance with the direction of the president.

The Vietnamese investor that is interested in developing the dairy industry in Poso, Central Sulawesi, is planning to manage 10,000 hectares of land and build a milk processing facility that is projected to produce up to 1.8 million tons of milk per year.

He further explained that if the investment runs in accordance with the plan, milk production from the domestic industry is projected to reach 1.8 million tons in three to five years.

"Thus, it will meet half of the national milk needs, which are currently still relying on imports, namely 3.7 million tons per year," he added.

This step, he said, is expected to have a positive impact, namely the creation of new jobs, a reduction of the unemployment rate, and an improvement in the welfare of the surrounding rural communities.

He noted that the strategic step is the Ministry of Agriculture's concrete step to reduce dependency on imports and bolster the national dairy industry.