170 Regents Attend Meeting with Agriculture Minister Amran – Without Delegates, What's the Issue?
Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia - Agriculture Minister Amran Sulaiman gathered around 170 regents from across Indonesia at his office on Monday (20/4/2026) to expedite the realisation of a Rp12 trillion budget. The budget is focused on crop grant programmes as well as the construction and improvement of irrigation, as efforts to boost production and the welfare of farmers.
Amran stated that this meeting was attended directly by the regional heads without representatives, given their strategic role in supporting national food self-sufficiency.
“Today we met with regents from across Indonesia who are our food barns, approximately 170 regents throughout Indonesia, present without delegates,” said Amran in a press conference after the Limited Coordination Meeting (Rakortas) at the Ministry of Agriculture Auditorium, Jakarta.
He explained that the government targets distributing direct assistance in the form of crop grants worth Rp9.95 trillion in 2026-2027. This assistance is provided free to farmers, including support for organic fertiliser.
“Our target for 2026, 2027, first is direct assistance from the President valued at free crop grants, totaling Rp9.95 trillion, in the form of crops with organic fertiliser processing given for free,” he clarified.
The focused commodities include sugarcane, coffee, cocoa, cashew, nutmeg, and coconut, with a development target of 870,000 hectares across Indonesia.
In addition to crop grants, the government is also allocating a budget of more than Rp3 trillion for the irrigation sector, including land optimisation programmes (oplah), new rice field creation, and pump irrigation.
“Then today we announce for irrigation, namely oplah irrigation for new rice fields. We are dividing an additional 30,000 new rice fields, then pump irrigation and so on for 1.5 million hectares across Indonesia,” he revealed.
The high enthusiasm of local governments, he said, is a key factor in accelerating the realisation of this programme.
“The regents are very good, this is extraordinary enthusiasm to improve the welfare of their respective communities. We encourage our irrigation budget of more than Rp3 trillion,” said Amran.
Overall, the total budget disbursed reaches Rp12 trillion, with the hope that it can be realised on time like previous programmes.
“So there is Rp12 trillion that we are distributing and hopefully all of this will be on time like before. The most important thing is improving the welfare of Indonesian farmers,” he stated.
He also highlighted the significant surge in the national agricultural sector, which he attributes to cross-sector collaboration under the direction of President Prabowo Subianto.
“Previously during the handover the previous year, (farmer exchange rate/NTP) rose from 0.67 percent to 5.7 percent. This is an extraordinary leap thanks to the work of regents, governors, TNI, Police, prosecutors. This collaboration is the result of all our work under the big ideas of the President,” he said.
Potential Impact of “Godzilla” El Niño
Meanwhile, regarding the potential drought due to the El Niño phenomenon, Amran assured that the national food stock situation remains safe.
“This if there is an impact from Godzilla El Niño it’s no problem. Why no problem? Because our stock, God willing, in the next 3 days 5 million tons, the highest during the republic’s independence. Previously 2.6 million tons in 1984, now almost twice as much,” he explained.
He elaborated that besides rice stocks, there is also production potential from crops ready for harvest (standing crop) as well as reserves in the hotel, restaurant, and catering sector (Horeka).
“The second is our standing crop of 11 million tons, meaning planted and just waiting to harvest. Then next there is in Horeka, that’s 12.5 million tons. Total can be 11 months. El Niño estimate is only 6 months while our reserves are 11 months. Meaning more than enough,” he concluded.