Minister Of Agriculture Amran: Small Milling Must Be Given Space

BEKASI - Minister of Agriculture (Mentan), Amran Sulaiman emphasized the importance of healthy competition between rice millings.

He said the government would seek competition between small, medium and large pangolins to run fairly in the field.

In Indonesia, continued Amran, there are three clusters of rice milling. Consisting of 161,000 small mills, 7,300 units of medium milling and 1,065 units of large capacity milling.

Furthermore, Amran said, with the number of existing mills, the mill capacity also exceeded the national rice production volume.

"This small one has a capacity of 116 million tons, this is 21 million (middle), this is 30 million. Well, while the total grain throughout Indonesia is only 65 million. I asked back, the capacity is 116,000, the grain is only 65 million, how is the capacity? It should be intermediate and large, not disturbing, right?," he said in Bekasi Regency, West Java, Tuesday, August 19.

Amran emphasized that the government's goal of requiring special licensing for large-scale rice milling is to protect the sustainability of small milling businesses.

"So how do we move it, so that this small one lives? No, this is not enough, the capacity is idle, then it is also taken by big (even), poor for small ones, give space. This is a populist economy, we need economic justice," said Amran.

Furthermore, Amran said that many small communities depend on small-scale milling businesses. Therefore, he continued, it needs to be protected.

"How do these small people, small mills grow, traditional markets move," he said.

In addition to the problem of excessive milling capacity, Amran said that the perpetrators of large rice milling also purchased grain above the Basic Purchase Price (HPP) set by the government.

This condition, continued Amran, could kill the people's economy. This is because this small mill cannot compete with rice milling.

"So, for example, small mills, if he buys Rp. 6,500, large mills Rp. 6,700. He can buy large mills of Rp. 7,000. That's deadly for the people's economy," he said.

Sebelumnya, Presiden Prabowo Subianto telah menetapkan aturan baru untuk bisnis penggilingan beras nasional.

Dalam aturan baru ini, ia mewajibkan penggilingan beras skala besar untuk memiliki izin khusus dari pemerintah.

Menurutnya, beras merupakan kepentingan masyarakat namun masih banyak pengusaha yang memanfaatkan kekuatan mereka untuk mendominasi dan memanipulasi kehidupan rakyat.

"Atas dasar inilah, hari ini saya umumkan setelah pertimbangan cermat oleh pemerintah untuk melindungi hak rakyat mendapatkan beras yang tepat, tepat takaran, tepat kualitas, harga terjangkau, dan usaha penggilingan penggilingan besar skala besar harus mendapat izin khusus dari pemerintah kalau mereka masih mau bergerak di bidang ini," ujar Prabowo dalam pidatonya di acara Sidang Tahunan MPR dan DPR Republik Indonesia 2025, Jumat, 15 Agustus.

Dia bilang, pemerintahannya juga akan menindak tegas semua jenis pelanggaran dan manipulasi serta upaya penimbunan dan penahanan disutribusi pangan yang akan berdampak pada hajat hidup orang banyak.

Previously, President Prabowo Subianto had set new rules for the national rice mill business.

In this new regulation, he requires large-scale rice mills to have special government permits.

According to him, rice is in the interests of the community, but there are still many entrepreneurs who use their strength to dominate and manipulate people's lives.

"On this basis, today I announce after careful consideration by the government to protect people's rights to get the right rice, right on the right price, right quality, affordable price, and large-scale milling businesses must obtain special permission from the government if they still want to move in this field," Prabowo said in his speech at the 2025 MPR and DPR Annual Sessions. 2025, Friday, August 15.

He said his government would also take firm action against all types of violations and manipulations as well as efforts to hoard and detain food distributions that would have an impact on the lives of many people.

"We will save the people, we will defend the interests of the people, we ensure that the Indonesian people will not become victims of serkahnomics," he said.