Minister Of Agriculture Ensures Self-Sufficiency In The Next 3 Months, Indonesia Doesn't Need More Rice Imports

Minister of Agriculture Amran Sulaiman. (Photo: Doc. VOI)

JAKARTA - Minister of Agriculture (Mentan) Amran Sulaiman ensured that Indonesia would realize its food self-sufficiency target in the next three months.

That way, he said, the government no longer needs to import rice to meet domestic needs.

"Alhamdulillah, today hopefully there will be no transverse flow, in the next two months or approximately three months, God willing, Indonesia will not import anymore. Hopefully there will be no extreme climate, we will be self-sufficient," he said at a press conference quoted from the Presidential Secretariat's YouTube, Thursday, October 9.

Amran revealed that this realization was faster than the rice self-sufficiency target set, which was four years.

This target was given by President Prabowo when he first inaugurated Amran Sulaiman as Minister of Agriculture.

Amran said, after 21 days as minister, the target was revised again.

He said Prabowo had assigned self-sufficiency in rice within three years.

"Then after 21 days there will be a slight change. The target of 4 years to 3 years. After 45 days there will be a slight change. From the target of 3 years to 1 year," he explained.

Based on data from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS), continued Amran, rice production has reached 33.1 million tons to date. Meanwhile, the rice production target by the end of 2025 is projected to reach 34 million tons.

Amran said rice production in 2024 itself was recorded at 30 million tons. Thus, he said, there was an increase in rice production this year compared to the previous year.

"Until today, our production today is 33.1 million tons according to BPS. January to November. Our estimated production is 34 million tons at the end of the year compared to last year's production of 30 million tons," he said.

Lebih lanjut, Amran bilang, karena ketersediaan tersebut, beras menjadi komoditas penyumbang deflasi pada bulan ini.

“Kemudian khusus bulan ini, beras terjadi deflasi yaitu minus 0,13 persen. Lima tahun terakhir, ini pertama di bulan September di saat paceklik, itu bisa ditunjukkan datanya, data inflasi (beras) minus 0,13 persen,” ucapnya.

Furthermore, Amran said, due to this availability, rice is a commodity that contributes to deflation this month.

"Then specifically this month, rice deflation occurred, namely minus 0.13 percent. In the last five years, this was the first time in September during the famine, the data could be shown, inflation data (rice) was minus 0.13 percent," he said.