Indonesia to Expand Farmland by 3 Million Hectares in Self-Sufficiency Drive

JAKARTA (Reuters) – Indonesia’s incoming president, Prabowo Subianto, aims to increase the country’s food crop planting areas by three million hectares (approximately 7.4 million acres) over the next five years as part of a strategy for food self-sufficiency, according to a government official.

Having secured a decisive victory in the February presidential elections, Prabowo has committed to achieving food self-sufficiency within four years after taking office on October 20.

Currently, Indonesia’s agricultural land spans 7.4 million hectares, reflecting an 8.5% decrease from 8.08 million hectares in 2015, primarily due to the conversion of land for residential and industrial purposes.

Prabowo’s expansion plans include increasing the farming area by three million hectares—an area comparable to Belgium—for cultivation of staple crops such as rice, corn, and soybeans. Sudaryono, a member of Prabowo’s Gerindra party who was appointed deputy agriculture minister in August to assist with preparing the president-elect’s key initiatives, elaborated on these plans.

“To secure future supply for the coming decades, it is essential to create new rice fields. We are currently planning a total of three million hectares for new planting areas,” Sudaryono stated during a recent event with oil palm farmers.

The ministry is exploring methods to utilize swamp areas for rice cultivation in regions such as South Sumatra, Central Kalimantan, and the eastern part of Papua. Although environmentalists have raised concerns that expanding agriculture in locations like Papua could lead to deforestation, Sudaryono assured that measures would be taken to prevent this.

"Do not assume that we will clear three million hectares of pristine forests for rice fields," he remarked. "There are swamp lands that we can manage for drainage to facilitate rice planting."

Earlier this year, Indonesia transformed around 100,000 hectares of swamps in South Sumatra into rice fields to enhance its rice production capabilities.

The country’s rice output is forecasted at 30.86 million metric tons for the current year, which falls short of the estimated demand of 31.21 million tons. As a result, the government has approved a rice import quota of 3.6 million tons for 2024.