Only 64 Districts Comply with Rice Field Protection, Government Threatens to Freeze RTRW

JAKARTA - Minister of ATR/BPN Nusron Wahid revealed that out of hundreds of regions in Indonesia, only 64 regencies/cities have set rice fields protection in their spatial planning. The rest, hundreds of regions have not met the basic requirements to prevent the loss of rice fields.

"If the RTRW has not listed at least 87 percent of the rice fields as LP2B, then we will lock all the rice fields. There should be no change in function," Nusron told reporters after meeting with President Prabowo Subianto at the Presidential Palace, Wednesday (28/1/2026).

LP2B (Sustainable Agriculture and Food Land) is a category of rice fields that must be maintained forever and must not be changed for other purposes. However, many areas have neglected to include it in the RTRW (Spatial Planning Plan) document. As a result, there is a change in land function or rice fields that can easily be changed into other areas such as housing, industry, or other development projects.

Government data states that only 67.8% of provinces and 41% of regencies/cities have included LP2B in their RTRW. Although the central rules are clear: at least 87 percent of the Vacant Rice Land (LBS) must be locked as permanent rice fields.

Therefore, the government will impose emergency rules: all LBS are immediately considered LP2B for areas that have not complied. There is no permit to change the function of rice fields until they revise the RTRW.

"Those who have not reached 87 percent, we give them six months. If not, we will take action," said Nusron.

A total of 409 regions must immediately revise their RTRW. Next Sunday, the central government will call all regional heads in Sentul for national coordination.

This step was taken because the shrinking of rice fields is no longer a sectoral issue, but a direct threat to national food security.