Simpang Empat, Aug. 10 -- The West Pasaman District Government in West Sumatra is optimizing agricultural land to boost rice production in the region.

"Land optimization is essential to improve fields and irrigation channels so that water flows smoothly. We hope this will increase rice yields," said Doddy San Ismail, West Pasaman Food Crops and Horticulture Head, in Simpang Empat on Sunday.

Currently, around 500 hectares of land - spread across five subdistricts - have been prepared for optimization, funded by the Ministry of Agriculture with a budget of Rp2.3 billion (over US$140,000).

"The work will start with repairing damaged tertiary irrigation networks within the rice fields, followed by secondary network repairs by the Public Wo...