40,000 Additional Pumps Prepared to Face El Niño
The Ministry of Agriculture will optimise the operation of 80,158 water pump units that have been distributed in 2025 to farmer groups to address the potential drought due to extreme El Niño starting from April 2026 nationwide. The government will soon add around 40,000 water pump units to anticipate the potential long dry season this year.
“I’m adding pump irrigation. Yes, hopefully 40,000. So, it will be stronger. So, no need to worry about El Niño because our defences are strong. Because we already have pump irrigation, we have irrigation, then the swamp land that we planted before, we repair its irrigation, plant once, become twice, three times,” said Minister of Agriculture Andi Amran Sulaiman when met during a visit to the Bulog Panaikang Warehouse in Makassar, South Sulawesi, on Sunday, 5 April 2026, as quoted by Antara.
He emphasised that Indonesia has strong experience in dealing with El Niño, thus able to maintain national food production stability through measured adaptation and mitigation strategies.
“(El Niño) Godzilla, they say it’s dry for six months. But it seems still higher than the previous El Niño (in) 2015. We already have experience managing El Niño with friends (in) 2015, 2023, 2024. La Niña, El Niño,” said Amran Sulaiman.
Amran said the impact of extreme hot weather is starting to be felt and has the potential to affect agricultural production. However, the government has experience in dealing with similar conditions in previous years.
He also emphasised various strategic steps that have been taken to strengthen the production system, from increasing pump irrigation to optimising swamp land.
He invited the public not to worry about the current extreme weather conditions, because the government has prepared various measured mitigation steps. “So, it’s already safe. Food is safe,” he stressed.
In addition, he affirmed that national food resilience is currently in a very strong position supported by abundant rice stocks. The government’s rice stock stored in Perum Bulog warehouses has reached the highest figure in Indonesia’s history, touching 4.5 million tonnes at the beginning of April 2026.
In addition to stocks in government warehouses, Amran revealed the availability of food distributed in other sectors as well as ongoing production potential. “The second is what’s in Horeka (hotels, restaurants, cafes/catering) according to our managed data, that’s 12.5 million tonnes. Then our standing crop that’s planted now ready for harvest, that’s 11 million tonnes. So already 23 million tonnes,” he said.
With that total availability, he estimated that national food needs can be met for a long period, even exceeding the peak drought period.
“That means for the next 11 months it’s safe. Stock for the Indonesian people for the next 11 months is safe. Whereas the drought is 6 months. So, safe, right?” he said.