Rice stock in Indonesia reached above 35 lakh tonnes without import

06-May-2025 12:58 PM

Jakarta. The Agriculture Minister of Indonesia, a Southeast Asian country, has stated that without any imports, the government’s rice stock rose to 35,17,294 tonnes in May 2025 — the highest level in the past 57 years.

All of this rice was procured from local sources. According to the minister, this current stock is the largest since 1969. When Indonesia was self-sufficient in food grain production, the rice stock had reached 24,02,899 tonnes in 1994.

The present stock is about 11 lakh tonnes higher than that. However, at that time, Indonesia's population was around 10 crore, whereas it now exceeds 28 crore.

At the beginning of May 2024, government rice reserves were only 14,67,626 tonnes, which means the current stock is nearly two and a half times greater.

The government is making determined efforts to boost domestic rice production and is providing every form of support, cooperation, and encouragement to paddy farmers.

The goal is to make Indonesia self-reliant in rice production once again and eliminate dependence on imports.

Efforts include improving irrigation infrastructure in Java and other regions, distributing advanced paddy seeds to farmers, and focusing on increasing yield per hectare so that higher production can be achieved from smaller areas.

For several years, Indonesia had been importing large quantities of rice from countries like Thailand and Vietnam to meet domestic demand.

Now, the government is purchasing high-quality paddy at competitive prices from local farmers. The average daily procurement has reached 50,000 tonnes.

This paddy is being milled, and the resulting rice is being stored in government warehouses. The rice stock is expected to rise to 40 lakh tonnes within the next 15–20 days.