JAKARTA - President Prabowo Subianto targets to realize food self-sufficiency in Indonesia after his government succeeded in achieving rice self-sufficiency in less than a year in the first year of his administration.
In front of economists, practitioners, and investors, President Prabowo stated that the national rice reserves stored in Bulog warehouses currently reached 4.2 million tons, the highest in the history of the nation.
"We will prove that our economic growth is real, real, and will be above the target we set. We also prove that we are now self-sufficient in rice. We are heading towards food self-sufficiency," said President Prabowo at the Indonesia Economy Outlook (IEO) 2026 event in Jakarta, quoted by Antara, Saturday, February 14.
"Now, the rice reserves at Bulog (per) July 2025 are 4.2 million tons, (which) are the highest in the history of our nation, and even now the existing reserves are still very high," continued the President.
Therefore, Prabowo emphasized that food security and food self-sufficiency programs, especially for commodities such as corn and other sources of carbohydrates, will continue to run.
Not only that, the President also wants his government to be able to realize protein self-sufficiency so that currently the development of fishing villages and the procurement of fishing boats is also a government priority.
"This 2026 fishing village will reach 1,000 villages. Each fishing village consists of several hundred, some 300, 500, some 2,000 fishermen, who during the Republic of Indonesia have never been touched by the government of the Republic of Indonesia. Our fishermen have never been given attention. They sometimes haven't, can't have ice, there are no ice factories in their villages," said Prabowo Subianto.
Ice is an important commodity for fishermen, because ice can keep fish fresh after being caught from the sea. Fish that are still in a fresh state have a much higher price.
Not only highlighting the lack of ice factories and cold storage in coastal fishing villages, Prabowo then also mentioned that many fishermen still buy solar at high prices. In fact, the boats and boats they use to sail use solar as their main fuel.
"We will change this. We (target) a total of 5,000 fishing villages in the next 4 years. We will build an ice factory in every fishing village, we will build cold storage, we will build piers, we will distribute boats, we will prepare vehicles. All of this is not a handout, this is not what we share, we organize it in cooperatives. All their expenses will be paid back to banks and the government," said the President.
The President continued that the government would free and facilitate villages, which are indeed capable, to directly export their marine and land products abroad.
"He can export directly. We will open ports, airports can export directly. We will simplify regulations so that they can grow basic economic activities, and they will produce protein in conditions that are not too expensive for all Indonesians," said Prabowo.
So far, the President has said that almost 100 fishing villages have been established, and the target by the end of 2026 is that 1,000 fishing villages have been successfully built by the government. "Furthermore, the total by 2029 our target is 5,000 fishing villages. Later, they will return the investment, but we give them the flexibility to return it so that it is not too heavy for them," continued the President.
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