BPS Records Rice Production of Farmers in Babel Decreased by 17.02 Percent

JAKARTA - The Central Statistics Agency (BPS) recorded the production of farmer rice in the Babel Islands during 2025 as much as 38,115 tons or decreased by 17.02 percent compared to the previous year which reached 45,931 tons.

"Farmer rice production has decreased, due to the reduction in the area of farmers' rice fields as an impact of the dry drought season," said BPS Head of Babel Islands, Head Sugeng Arianto, as reported by ANTARA, Thursday, February 5.

He said the highest monthly rice production in 2025 occurred in April at 6,270 tons and the lowest occurred in July which was only 299 tons, because when entering the rice planting season, many farmers' rice fields were drying due to drought.

According to him, the potential rice production from January to March 2026 is estimated at 11,506 tons or an increase of 1,790 tons (18.42 percent) compared to the rice production in the same period last year which was 9,716 tons.

"The potential for rice harvest from January to March this year is estimated at 5,138 hectares, or a decrease of 49 hectares (0.95 percent) compared to the rice harvest area in the same period last year which was 5,188 hectares," he said.

He hopes that the production of local farmers' rice will continue to increase, in order to reduce the supply of rice from outside the region to meet the rice consumption of the community in his area.

"Until now, Babel still relies on rice supplies from outside the region to suppress inflation, because the production of local farmers' rice is still limited to meet the high needs of the community," he said.