Overcoming Scarcity, Minister Of Agriculture Amran Promises To Increase Rice Production

Minister of Agriculture, Andi Amran Sulaiman. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - Minister of Agriculture Andi Amran Sulaiman promised to increase rice production in Indonesia to overcome the surge in the price of basic necessities.

"We are increasing production because production is absolutely upgrading if we want to reduce rice prices. This is not only the price of Indonesian rice, but the price of world rice," Amran said after meeting President Joko Widodo at the Presidential Palace in Jakarta, quoted from Antara, Tuesday, February 13.

He explained that from December 2023 to January 2024, the government had planted rice commodities on an area of 4 million hectares which were expected to produce 5-8 tons of rice per hectare.

According to him, the plant that has been planted (standing crop) since December 2023 has an area of 1.5 million hectares plus 1.7 million hectares in January 2024, bringing the total to 3.2 million hectares, and this month's production is still added on 1 million to 1.5 million hectares of land.

"Right now, we are accelerating planting in Java because production in Java, Lampung, 70 percent of production is there. So we are accelerating planting in Central Java, East Java, West Java, while outside Java, in Lampung, South Sumatra, North Sulawesi, South Sulawesi and NTB. We focus on barns for Indonesia," he said.

Thus, Amran hopes to realize the production target of at least 3 million tons of rice from the area of planted land, according to the estimation of the Indonesian Central Statistics Agency (BPS).

The National Food Agency (Bapanas) recorded an increase in rice prices in Indonesia, which rose 0.43 percent to Rp13,890 per kilogram for medium rice and rose 0.32 percent to Rp15,800 per kilogram for premium rice.