President Prabowo Announces Food Self-Sufficiency and Maintained Rice Security
Jakarta – President Prabowo Subianto attended the national harvest in Karawang, West Java, on Wednesday, January 7, 2026, which marked a crucial moment for strengthening the national agricultural sector.
On that occasion, the President officially announced Indonesia’s success in achieving food self-sufficiency after overcoming various global and domestic challenges.
“Indonesia has successfully become a self-sufficient nation in food,” Prabowo stated before farmers and agricultural stakeholders.
According to the President, this achievement is the result of the hard work of all elements of the nation, from farmers, the central and regional governments, to consistent and sustainable policy support.
Prabowo emphasized that the success in achieving food self-sufficiency is concrete evidence of Indonesia as a strong, independent nation, capable of standing on its own two feet in maintaining national food security.
This means the government will not allow rice imports in 2026. This certainty is based on the very strong national rice stock at the beginning of the year, which reached 12.529 million tons.
This figure represents a 203 percent increase compared to stocks at the beginning of 2024 and is the highest in the history of national food management. This achievement also underscores Indonesia’s increasingly solid progress toward sustainable food security.
The National Food Agency (Bapanas) assesses that the rice stock is more than sufficient to meet public demand. With national rice consumption of approximately 2.591 million tons per month, the available stock is sufficient to meet demand for the next several months. This situation provides a safe space for the government to maintain price and supply stability without relying on imports.
The Deputy for Food Availability and Stabilization at Bapanas, I Gusti Ketut Astawa, stated that based on these stock levels, the 2026 Commodity Balance Forum unanimously decided to halt rice imports. The forum, held at the Coordinating Ministry for Food Affairs, agreed not to set import quotas for either general-purpose rice or industrial rice in 2026.
“The government has decided there is no need to import rice. The same applies to consumer sugar and feed corn in 2026, as national stocks and production are considered strong,” said Astawa.
He detailed that carryover stock from 2025 to 2026 reached 12.529 million tons, including the Government Rice Reserves (CBP) at Perum Bulog of 3.248 million tons as of December 31, 2025. With relatively stable monthly consumption needs, these stocks are considered sufficient to meet public needs until May 2026.
Furthermore, Bapanas also projects national rice production throughout 2026 to reach 34.7 million tons. Combined with the initial stock, the total national rice availability by the end of 2026 is estimated to reach 16.194 million tons.**
