Coordinating Minister For Food Ensures No Rice Imports In 2025

Coordinating Minister for Food Zulkifli Hasan (Photo: Doc. VOI)

JAKARTA - Coordinating Minister for Food Affairs (Menko Pangan) Zulkfli Hasan ensured that the government would not import rice next year or 2025. This is also in line with President Prabowo Subianto's desire to self-sufficiency in food.

Currently, he continued, the government through the Ministry of Agriculture is working hard to ensure domestic production will be absorbed.

"Hopefully next year we won't import rice. Now, everyone is working hard, in that context (there are no imports)," he said at the Coordinating Ministry for Food, Jakarta, Thursday, November 22.

Zulhas, as Zulkifli Hasan is familiarly called, said that even if the government decided to open the tap for rice imports, the amount would not be large.

"Even if it's imported a little," he explained.

Moreover, he continued, President Prabowo Subianto had cut Indonesia's target of achieving food self-sufficiency. Zulhas said that initially the target was set for 2028 but changed to 2027.

"The order of the president to self-sufficiency in food in 2028 has now advanced again, yesterday the President announced at the G20, in APEC it is not 2028, (but) 2027. So it's only next year, right, the other year it's arrived. We have 2 years, 2 years we have to work hard, "he said.

For your information, from January to October this year, BPS reported that Indonesia had imported 3.48 million tons of rice with a total value of 2.15 billion US dollars or around Rp. 34 trillion. Where the majority of the imports came from three countries, namely Thailand Vietnam and Myanmar.

The government has also targeted imports of 3.6 million tons of rice throughout 2024. Where as many as 2.8 million of them have entered Indonesia.