Completed Yamdena Irrigation to Help Farmers Harvest Three Times Yearly
- 21 Jul 2026 16:44 WIB
- Voice of Indonesia
Key Points
- The Public Works Ministry completed the Groundwater Irrigation Network (JIAT) at 13 sites on Yamdena Island, Tanimbar Islands, Maluku.
- The irrigation system is designed to ensure water availability during El Niño-induced dry seasons and improve agricultural productivity.
RRI.CO.ID, Jakarta – The Public Works Ministry has completed the Groundwater Irrigation Network (JIAT) at 13 sites on Yamdena Island, in the Tanimbar Islands, Maluku. The project is part of the third phase of Presidential Instruction No. 2/2025 aimed at strengthening national food security.
Public Works Minister, Dody Hanggodo, said the JIAT construction will secure water supply during the dry season caused by El Niño. With a reliable irrigation system, agricultural productivity is expected to rise and national food resilience to be sustainably reinforced.
“Through this JIAT, we want to ensure water availability, so that agricultural productivity increases and food security becomes stronger,” he said in a statement in Jakarta on Monday, 20 July 2026.
The minister stressed that JIAT development must be complemented by tertiary channel networks adapted to each field’s morphology. This step aims to ensure more effective water distribution that reaches all farmland, allowing farmers to fully benefit from the newly built wells and groundwater pumps.
Locally, farmers in Latdalam Village, Tanimbar Islands Regency, have already begun to feel the benefits of the JIAT through improved availability of irrigation water. Members of a farmers’ group said the system covers 108 hectares and includes 10.8 kilometers of irrigation channels that facilitate planting activities.
Before the JIAT, farmers in Latdalam typically harvested only once a year. The improved and more secure water supply now allows them to increase planting intensity to achieve three harvests annually.
“Last year we only harvested once. With this water and bore wells, we as farmers will strive to harvest three times a year,” said a member of the Latdalam Village farmers’ group, Curcil B. Watumlawar.
The Yamdena JIAT was built by PT Hutama Karya using IDR 24.4 billion (USD 1.37 million) from the 2026 state budget. The project included pump houses, bore wells, water towers, solar-powered pumps, and pipe networks.
Beyond securing water supply, the Public Works Ministry continues strengthening irrigation networks to support national agricultural productivity. In the 2025 fiscal year, this effort included rehabilitation of main irrigation networks at 69 locations.
The ministry also expanded tertiary irrigation networks through the Accelerated Program for Improving Irrigation Water Use (P3TGAI) at 441 locations. Additionally, the Presidential Instruction on Accelerating Irrigation Development was carried out at 69 sites across various regions.
The government also constructed JIAT at 45 locations during the 2025 fiscal year. These programs are intended to increase irrigation service reliability so that agricultural water supplies remain secure during the dry season. (Annaila Azzahra-EN)
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