Agricultural land in the Gunung Binjai area, Teritip Sub-district, East Balikpapan District, is currently being prepared to become one of the main pillars of food security in Balikpapan City. This strategic step is fully supported by the acceleration of irrigation infrastructure development by the Balikpapan City Government, which is projected to boost the productivity and planting frequency of local farmers.
Balikpapan Deputy Mayor, Bagus Susetyo, during his direct inspection of the project's progress on Tuesday (28/7/2026), emphasized that guaranteeing a stable water supply is the primary key to advancing the local agricultural sector. To support this target, the local government has allocated a budget of IDR 4.8 billion from the city budget (APBD) to build a 750-meter concrete irrigation channel spread across four strategic points.
The infrastructure project, which is targeted for complete completion in December 2026, shows a positive progress deviation. To date, the physical realization of the construction is reported to have reached 26 percent, surpassing the initial planning target set at 6 percent. In addition to focusing on irrigation, the government is also building agricultural access roads to facilitate the distribution of fertilizers, seeds, and the mobilization of crops.
The presence of this permanent irrigation system is believed to be able to change traditional planting patterns. Farmers who previously could only harvest rice once or twice a year due to reliance on rainfall, now have the opportunity to increase it to three times a year. The productivity of rice fields in Gunung Binjai currently produces an average of 4.5 tons of unhusked rice per hectare, and is expected to continue to skyrocket along with the optimization of the water supply in the 42-hectare agricultural area.
The head of the Gunung Binjai Farmers Group, Romadhon, expressed his optimism about this infrastructure assistance. However, he also expressed hope that the government would immediately address secondary technical constraints, such as normalizing clogged drainage channels and repairing leaks in two water division check dams, to prevent the risk of flooding in the rice fields.
If these technical obstacles are successfully resolved, farmers plan to implement a crop rotation system consisting of planting rice twice and corn once a year. This rotating planting pattern is considered not only capable of diversifying food commodities, but also effective in naturally breaking the life cycle of agricultural pests.
