Presidential Instruction (Inpres) No. 1 of 2025 on Spending Efficiency in the Implementation of the National and Regional Budget (APBN and APBD) for the 2025 Fiscal Year has impacted almost all sectors of society.
One major consequence is the significant cut in infrastructure spending, which was reduced drastically from Rp110.95 trillion to Rp81.38 trillion.
This cut will affect various infrastructure projects, including dam and irrigation channel construction.
Building dams plays a critical role in supporting the agricultural sector. Dams store water during the rainy season for use during the dry season, ensuring water availability year-round.
This allows for increased planting seasons and the expansion of agricultural land, which in turn can boost food production.
However, if dam construction is halted to achieve budget efficiency, the target of food self-sufficiency could be jeopardized.
Dr. Endita Prima Ari Pratiwi, a lecturer from the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, UGM Faculty of Engineering (FT UGM), expressed this.
According to her, even without budget cuts, the current irrigation funding is already limited. This is evident from the many irrigation channels in poor condition, possibly due to insufficient funding.
“Budget cuts can be efficient if well-targeted. Allocating funds for the construction, rehabilitation, and maintenance of irrigation infrastructure should remain a priority,” Dr. Pratiwi said in an interview on Thursday (Feb. 27).
Citing the Ministry of Public Works and Housing (PUPR) Regulation No. 14 of 2015 on Criteria and Designation of Irrigation Areas, Indonesia has 9.14 million hectares of irrigation areas.
Although this figure has changed due to land-use changes and urbanization, irrigation area development has also occurred.
Some sources indicate that around 1 million hectares of productive agricultural land have been converted due to urbanization.
Meanwhile, the target for opening new irrigation areas in the National Medium-Term Development Plan (RPJMN) 2019-2024 is 1 million hectares.
“It’s important to note that newly opened irrigation areas, especially in marginal land regions, cannot be as productive as long-established irrigation areas with mature and fertile soil,” she explained.
According to data from the Ministry of PUPR in 2014, about 77% of irrigation networks under central government authority were in good condition.
However, Dr. Pratiwi noted that more than half of the irrigation networks managed by local governments are in poor condition.
“The damage seen in Indonesia’s irrigation networks can certainly be attributed to the local governments’ budget capacities, which are not as strong as the central government’s,” she elaborated.
She expressed concern that if the ministry’s budget cuts affect the funds allocated for infrastructure construction, rehabilitation, and maintenance, more irrigation networks will be damaged and neglected, preventing water from flowing as planned.
“As a result, the water needed by crops may not reach agricultural land, leading to a decline in agricultural production,” she said.
Amidst these budget cuts, she added that strengthening agricultural technology, such as modernizing irrigation systems, is essential to increasing productivity, in addition to repairing and expanding irrigation networks.
However, modernization requires adequate irrigation infrastructure and a significant budget. Therefore, the more urgent step is to address social issues, such as improving governance and ensuring legal certainty in the irrigation sector.
“Social and non-technical challenges often become obstacles in achieving efficient irrigation networks, so improvements in these aspects will have a long-term impact on agricultural productivity,” Dr. Pratiwi concluded.
Author: Lintang
Editor: Gusti Grehenson
Post-editor: Afifudin Baliya
Photograph by: Ministry of Public Works and Housing