Reporter Alfitria Nefi P

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – Indonesia’s Minister of Agriculture Amran Sulaiman admitted that not all rice distributed by the Bulog (National Logistic Agency) has good quality. “Indeed, it’s not 100 percent good. On average, it’s 100,000 (tons) per year,” he said during a working meeting with Commission IV of the Indonesian House of Representatives (DPR RI) on Wednesday, July 2, 2025.

Amran ensures that Bulog does not distribute low-quality rice to the public. According to Amran, these low-quality rice are distributed to the livestock industry. “The rice is sold for livestock,” he said. From these sales, he claimed that Bulog can still generate additional income.

In addition to ensuring the quality of rice for the public, the government is preventing the distribution of low-quality rice to reduce the practice of mixing rice. “If we sell it to certain people, it’s dangerous. They mix it, make it shiny, then sell it again,” Amran explained.

The practice of mixing rice has recently become prevalent. Based on the examination conducted by the Food Task Force, Amran stated that 80 percent of the rice for the Supply and Price Stabilization Program (SPHP) has been mixed to become premium rice. He estimated that the country suffered losses of up to Rp 2 trillion in one year due to this practice.

In order to ensure the distribution of quality rice to the public, Amran requested Bulog to prioritize the distribution of older rice. He stated that he does not want to repeat the incident of distributing poor quality, infested rice in 2016-2017, which subsequently sparked public criticism.

Amran targets that by the end of this year, the remaining stock of old rice will only be around 100,000 tons. “This means, by the end of December, it will all be new rice.”

Amran also mentioned that fumigation processes were carried out in 2024 to maintain the quality of the rice. “Speed up the fumigation for the good ones, but for the less good ones, they are immediately removed,” he said. He ensures that this mitigation has also been agreed upon by Bulog.

Published Date: July 3, 2025