Jakarta, Oct. 16 -- Indonesia's Coordinating Ministry for Food Affairs plans to enlist nearly 500 businesses in Central Kalimantan to help local governments and agencies fight recurring forest and land fires.

Deputy Coordinating Minister for Food Affairs Hanif Faisol Nurofiq said the initiative would focus on plantation and forestry concessionaires with heavy equipment, operational capacity and personnel for ground firefighting.

"Today, we are mobilizing nearly 500 businesses in Central Kalimantan," Nurofiq said after an inter-agency wildfire coordination meeting in Jakarta on Thursday.

Mobilizing private businesses is crucial to making up for equipment and personnel shortages faced by local authorities, Nurofiq said.

The government h...