President Prabowo Backs Cassava-Based Fire Extinguisher to Fight Forest Fires

RRI.CO.ID, Palembang – Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto is pushing for several innovations to address and prevent land and forest fires currently hitting Indonesian regions. One such innovation is a fire-extinguishing agent made from cassava or root vegetable flour.

This was revealed during a meeting on handling South Sumatra forest fires in its capital, Palembang, on Monday, August 24, 2026. According to the Commander of the Military Area Command II/Sriwijaya at the Indonesian Army, Major General Ujang Darwis, the innovation came from a village military officer (Babinsa) in South Sumatra.

"That was a discovery made by our member, a Babinsa in Lubuklinggau," he said, referring to a city in the province.

Chief of the Indonesian National Police, Listyo Sigit Prabowo, was the first to bring up the existence of this innovation during the meeting. He explained that the material works by preventing interaction between fire, oxygen, and carbon dioxide.

"So it can be used for prevention, and it can also be used to extinguish initial fires," Listyo said.

Although it can extinguish fires at the early stages of a blaze, Listyo stated it is not impossible for the material to extinguish large-scale fires if supplied in sufficient quantities. He mentioned that the material could be dropped from helicopters or airplanes to combat fires.

Furthermore, Ujang noted that this cassava-based fire-extinguishing material is still being produced on a small scale. However, his team is currently trying to enable large-scale production.

"We will try it on a large scale... This innovation has also been reported to the BNPB (National Disaster Management Agency)," he said.

Prabowo welcomed the fire-extinguishing innovation warmly. He stated he would make every effort to ensure the material can be produced on a large scale.

"Try producing it on a large scale; submit the production costs, and we will make every effort," he said.

Innovations like this are not entirely new. Previously, a man named Aryanto Misel from Cirebon Regency, West Java, reportedly created a fire extinguisher made from cassava skin.

That potassium citrate-based fire extinguisher was shaped like a portable fire extinguisher. Although he stated he first created the innovation in 2003, it gained widespread prominence in Indonesian media in 2022.