An interministerial meeting on Tuesday, October 29, 2024, presided by Coordinating Minister for Food Affairs, Zulkifli Hasan, decided to import 1 million tons of rice from India in 2025 to secure supplies due to delay in harvest season.
“We need an additional 1 million tons to ensure safe supplies until February. Production in the December-February period is usually lower,” Head of the National Food Agency Arief Prasetyo Adi told reporters after the meeting.
Citing data of Statistic Indonesia (BPS), Adi said that Indonesia’s rice production is estimated to fall 2.43 percent this year to 30.34 million metric tons due to delays in the planting and harvest seasons amid a longer dry season in 2023.
Indonesia is targeting imports of up to 5 million tons of rice this year. On the other hand, the government also plans to create 3 million hectares of new rice fields in the next 3-4 years to achieve President Prabowo Subianto’s food self-sufficiency target.
“We are racing against time to meet the target set by President Prabowo Subianto, Pak President has said many times that we want our country to be self-sufficient in food,” Zulkifli Hasan said after the meeting.
He added that coordination meetings between ministries are important because food self-sufficiency cannot be achieved by each ministry working alone.
“If only one doesn’t want to cooperate, it’s difficult. For example, if there is no water, we’re running around. There is water, the fertilizer is late. It can’t be done either. So it’s very important. Therefore, this meeting is on the order of the President, indeed we must be one united, one team, so that the goal is food self-sufficiency in 2028,” Zulkifli said.
The meeting was attended by Minister of Forestry Raja Juli Antoni, Minister of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Sakti Wahyu Trenggono, Minister of Villages and Underdeveloped Regions Development Yandri Susanto, Head of the National Food Agency Arief Prasetyo Adi, and Deputy Minister of Agriculture Sudaryono.
