Windarto

Jakarta. Indonesia’s national rice stock has reached a historic milestone, surpassing 3.5 million tons as of Sunday — the highest level recorded in any January-May period over the past 57 years, according to government data.

Agriculture Minister Andi Amran Sulaiman hailed the achievement as a landmark in the country’s food security efforts and a testament to both farmers’ dedication and the effectiveness of targeted government policies.

“This is the first time in 57 years that government rice reserves have exceeded 3.5 million tons between January and May,” Minister Amran said in Jakarta.

Beyond setting a new high for this five-month period, the pace of stockpiling in 2025 has also broken historical records. Starting at 1.7 million tons in January — carried over from the previous year — the stock surged by 1.8 million tons to reach 3.5 million tons in just four months, all without imports.

Based on historical records maintained by the State Logistics Agency (Bulog) since its establishment in 1969 under President Soeharto, this marks the highest January-May stockpile ever recorded.

“This figure surpasses the previous record set in June 1997 of 3,029,049 tons, making it the highest in history for the same period,” Amran noted.

Bulog’s rice procurement from farmers also saw a strong performance, with 1.06 million tons absorbed in April alone. From January to early May, the agency secured a total of 1.8 million tons from domestic farmers, which — when added to the 1.7 million-ton carryover stock — brought the total to 3.5 million tons.

Crucially, the entire stock was sourced domestically, with no medium-grade rice imports recorded during the January-May 2025 period. This robust absorption level exceeds Bulog’s average annual procurement over the past five decades and has prompted the agency to rent additional storage space with a capacity of 1.1 million tons.

Meanwhile, the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) projects national rice production to reach 18.76 million tons by the end of June 2025.

Further reinforcing Indonesia’s strong agricultural performance, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) recently forecast that Indonesia’s rice output for the full year could hit 34.6 million tons.

This would make Indonesia the largest rice producer in Southeast Asia, further cementing its role as a strategic food hub amid rising global concerns over food insecurity.

Published Date: May 4, 2025