Erfan Maruf, Jakarta – The Agrarian Affairs and Spatial Planning Ministry/National Land Agency (ATR/BPN) has allocated more than 920,000 hectares of land to the Agriculture Ministry to support the government's ethanol development program, Minister Nusron Wahid said on Tuesday.

The figure falls slightly short of the government's 1 million-hectare target. "We've submitted 680,000 hectares from expired plantation concessions and another 240,000 hectares from abandoned lands. We're still looking for the remaining 100,000 hectares," Nusron told reporters in Jakarta.

He said the land parcels are spread across 18 to 19 provinces, including Sulawesi, Kalimantan, Sumatra, and Java. "It's not just in Papua. We have lands in Sumatra, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, West Java, and East Java," he added.

According to Nusron, the next step is verification by the Agriculture Ministry to ensure the designated areas are suitable for cultivating ethanol-producing crops. "We've handed the data over to the Agriculture Ministry for planting ethanol feedstocks. Now it's up to them to verify whether the land is appropriate," he said.

The allocation is part of Indonesia's broader plan to mandate a 10 percent ethanol blend in vehicle fuels starting in 2027 under the E10 program. The policy will require all gasoline sold domestically to contain 10 percent ethanol, complementing the country's B40 biodiesel mandate, which calls for a 40 percent palm oil blend in subsidized diesel.

Through these measures, the government aims to cut fossil fuel imports, lower carbon emissions, and boost demand for domestically produced bioenergy crops.

Source: https://jakartaglobe.id/business/indonesia-allocates-920000-hectares-for-ethanol-developmen