August 26, 2026 | 05:27 pm
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - As President Prabowo Subianto paid a visit to quake-stricken East Nusa Tenggara (NTT), he said he's "optimistic" that the region could grow to become a domestic and global food source.
The remark was said while Prabowo led a coordination brief on NTT earthquake handling at the 834/Wakanga Mere Territorial Development Battalion (Yon TP) Headquarters in Tonggurambang Village, Mbay, Nagekeo Regency, NTT, on Wednesday, August 26, 2026.
According to the president, NTT has great potential across the food, fisheries, and seaweed sectors, as well as a swathe of land that can be developed to be more productive.
To achieve this, he said, the government must "dare to think big and set high targets."
Prabowo particularly mentioned the fisheries and seaweed among the sectors with high potentials in NTT. He called on the local communities to utilize marine potential to support food security and the regional economy.
"There's great potential for fisheries here. We can see from the plane that the sea is deep blue and unpolluted. You can develop the fisheries and seaweed sectors here," he said.
Besides marine potential, Prabowo encouraged the utilization of unproductive land to support his bid for food resilience in the country.
Prabowo has supported plans to open 8,000 hectares of agricultural land and 100 hectares of fisheries cultivation in Nagekeo Regency.
"Your people are struggling; they're hungry, how can you make them not hungry? We'll turn unproductive land into productive land," he said.
Prabowo also said that the development of agricultural and economic potential in NTT requires water availability, hence why he called for the implementation of desalination technology to meet the need for clean water, especially in island and coastal areas.
"Desalination was unaffordable 30 years ago; only wealthy nations could afford it. Now we can build desalination plants at the village level," he said.
Besides water, Prabowo called for the use of solar energy to support the development of the region's potentials. "In the future, we will be powered by solar power. Here, too, if necessary, we might build solar power plants (PLTS) on unproductive mountains. How many gigawatts of solar power plants will be used here as an energy source for productive economic projects?" he said.
Read: Prabowo Breaks Silence on Delayed NTT Earthquake Visit
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