Abundant Rice Stock, Indonesia Optimistic to Achieve National Food Self-Sufficiency Faster

Jakarta – The government continues to demonstrate its commitment to realizing national food security, especially rice self-sufficiency, with the achievement of national rice stocks that have now reached more than four million tons.

The Minister of Agriculture, Andi Amran Sulaiman emphasized that this achievement is the highest record in the last 57 years, surpassing the record of rice stocks in 1984 which reached three million tons.

“Our initial target for rice self-sufficiency was four years, then accelerated to three years by the President. With the condition of stocks that are already very abundant, we are optimistic that this year Indonesia will no longer need to import rice,” said Amran

He added that the availability of sufficient rice is not only able to meet domestic needs, but also maintain price stability so as not to burden consumers.

Furthermore, Amran explained that the government has prepared social assistance in the form of 360 thousand tons of rice to be distributed for two months, especially to people in non-rice-producing areas such as Papua, Maluku, and urban areas. This step is part of the strategy to maintain people’s purchasing power and strengthen national food security.

“Our strategy is to maintain prices at the farmer level so that they remain profitable, while ensuring that prices at the consumer level remain affordable,” added the Minister of Agriculture.

Separately, the Deputy for Coordination of Affordability and Food Security at the Coordinating Ministry for Food, Nani Hendiarti, stated that the government is not only focusing on rice self-sufficiency, but also expanding food security efforts to aspects of food security and affordability for all levels of society.

“Our food security narrative refers to the Food Law with the main priority on rice commodities, followed by feed corn, consumption sugar, and consumption salt,” explained Nani.

She added that the Coordinating Ministry for Food is implementing various strategies to ensure that food supplies remain stable and national food reserves are strong.

According to Nani, the success of maintaining national food security requires synergy between ministries and optimal budget utilization, including in maintaining farmers’ purchasing power through the NTP (Farmer Exchange Rate) which in May 2025 had reached 121, far above the target of 110.

[edRW]