Agriculture Minister Amran: We Have Experience Managing El Niño...
Agriculture Minister Andi Amran Sulaiman emphasised that Indonesia possesses strong experience in facing the El Niño phenomenon, enabling the maintenance of production stability and national food security through measured adaptation and mitigation strategies.
“(El Niño) Godzilla is said to bring six months of dryness. But it seems the previous El Niño in 2015 was even more severe. We already have experience managing El Niño together with our colleagues in 2015, 2023, 2024. La Niña, El Niño,” said the Minister during a visit to the Bulog Panaikang Warehouse in Makassar, South Sulawesi, on Sunday (5/4/2026) as quoted from Antara.
He acknowledged that the impacts of extreme weather are beginning to be felt and could potentially affect agricultural production. However, the government has prepared various anticipatory measures based on experience handling similar conditions in the past.
The Ministry of Agriculture will optimise the use of 80,158 water pump units that have been distributed to farmer groups in 2025 to face the potential drought due to El Niño starting from April 2026.
In addition, the government also plans to add around 40,000 water pump units to strengthen water supply for the agricultural sector during the dry season.
“I’m adding pump installations. Hopefully 40,000. So, it will be even stronger. So, no need to worry about El Niño because our defences are strong. Because we already have pump installations, irrigation, then the swamp land that we planted before, we repair its irrigation, plant once, become twice, three times,” he explained.
The Minister also urged the public not to worry about the El Niño threat, as the government has prepared comprehensive mitigation measures.
“So, it’s already safe. Food is safe,” he asserted.
From the food security perspective, he stated that Indonesia’s position is currently very strong. The government’s rice stocks stored in Perum Bulog warehouses even reached 4.5 million tonnes at the beginning of April 2026, the highest in history.
In addition, food availability is also supported by stocks in the horeka sector (hotels, restaurants, cafes/catering) as well as the harvest potential from growing crops.
“The second is what’s in Horeka (hotels, restaurants, cafes/catering) according to the data we manage, 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 explained.
With that total availability, the government estimates that national food needs can be met in the long term, even exceeding the peak drought period due to El Niño.
“That means for the next 11 months, it’s safe. Stocks for the Indonesian people for the next 11 months are safe. Whereas the drought is 6 months. So, it’s safe, right?” he said.