Agriculture Minister Projects Rice Surplus Thanks to Fines
Agriculture Minister Andi Amran Sulaiman believes that the fine mechanism for those converting paddy fields, in the form of opening larger paddy fields, will boost rice production. “If this becomes a reality, it will greatly help the country,” he said at Graha Mandiri, Jakarta, on Monday, 30 March 2026.
The government is currently drafting a government regulation (RPP) that regulates the fine mechanism for parties or entrepreneurs who convert paddy fields into non-agricultural land such as housing estates.
The fine consists of opening or replacing paddy fields with an area one to three times larger than the converted area. Data compiled from 2019 to 2025 shows approximately 600,000 hectares of paddy land have been converted.
Amran Sulaiman stated that the addition of land has the potential to expand new paddy areas by 1-2 million hectares. He said production from one million hectares of land could occur twice.
He then calculated the average rice production per hectare at 5 tons. With one million hectares of land multiplied by two production cycles, Amran Sulaiman estimated an additional 10 million tons of rice. “One million times 10 tons means 10 million tons, making our production abundant,” he remarked.
On the same occasion, Amran Sulaiman said the current national rice stock is 4.3 million tons. He estimated next month’s rice production to reach 5 million tons.
The plan to impose fines on those converting land was conveyed by Coordinating Minister for Food Zulkifli Hasan after a limited meeting on Monday, 30 March 2026.
The National Mandate Party politician said the government is still formulating the fine mechanism that will apply. However, he explained that the fine is in the form of land replacement by opening paddy fields one to three times larger than the converted land.
He exemplified the application of land opening for three categories of areas. For productive land with irrigation, it must be replaced with three times the area. Meanwhile, for less productive paddy land, it must be replaced by opening land twice the size.
As for rain-fed land, it must be replaced with one times the area. “We will require all violations of paddy land conversions to be immediately replaced by the violators. Some three times, some two times, some one time, this is being formulated,” he stated.
He said the government regulation draft will be submitted for harmonisation to the Ministry of Law. He targets the RPP to be completed within one to two months.