Minister of Agriculture, Amran Sulaiman, has revealed of Rp802.58 trillion (US$49 billion) investment opportunity in the food downstreaming program for 11 commodities, with initial project focusing on developing seven commodities of around Rp406 trillion investment.

"The food downstreaming program will improve people's welfare, save foreign exchange, and drive the regional economy," Amran said on Monday, March 10, 2025.

The seven commodities are garlic, cassava, palm oil, coconut, sugar cane, palm and cattle. The government is conducting this food downstreaming to stop imports of goods that can be produced by the local agricultural sector and increase the added value of export-oriented food products.

The agricultural sector with the largest downstream investment needs is palm oil worth Rp321.13 trillion. Two products are set as its main focus, namely crude palm oil (CPO) and biodiesel.

Then, the coconut downstream program, which will utilize productive coconut trees that have been planted on 300 thousand hectares (ha) of land in North Sulawesi, North Maluku, West Java, West Kalimantan and Riau.

Cassava downstreaming will absorb the largest workforce of up to 1.45 million people. The potential investment of Rp4.23 trillion will utilize existing cassava land of 300 thousand ha to produce raw materials for five tapioca flour factories and five fermented cassava flour factories (Mocaf).

Investment in the agricultural sector will drive other sectors and it will add up to 33 times more. Statistics Indonesia (BPS) has recorded that agricultural investment worth Rp1,366 trillion in 2016 successfully drove six economic sectors with a total value of Rp45,336 trillion.

Amran noted that investment in the agricultural sector in 2016 brought fresh funds worth Rp6,797 trillion to the manufacturing sector. The sector with the largest investment value was the service sector worth Rp30,369 trillion.