Bapanas Requests Rp16 Trillion Budget Increase, Up from Usual Rp161 Billion
Jakarta - The National Food Agency (Bapanas) has proposed an additional budget of around Rp16 trillion to run various food programmes in 2027. The figure is far larger than Bapanas’s regular budget of only around Rp161 billion.
Bapanas Principal Secretary Sarwo Edhy said the regular budget of Rp161 billion already covers salaries and various routine activities of Bapanas.
“(The hearing with the DPR earlier) discussed the 2027 RKAKL. Our regular budget is only Rp161 billion. That includes salaries and activities at the Food Agency. Therefore, we are proposing an additional budget of around Rp16 trillion,” Sarwo said after a meeting at the Parliament Complex, Jakarta, Wednesday (19/8/2026).
According to him, the proposed additional budget of around Rp16 trillion will be used for a number of food programmes in 2027. One of them is the food assistance programme, including rice assistance and the Food Supply and Price Stabilisation (SPHP) programme.
“For the food assistance programme in 2027, for the SPHP programme. There is SPHP rice, there is also SPHP maize, and SPHP soybeans,” he said.
In addition, the budget will also be allocated for food diversification programmes through the Diverse, Nutritious, Balanced, and Safe (B2SA) programme.
“Then there is a small activity related to food diversification. This means that going forward, we must be able to programme that being full does not have to mean eating rice. That is also included there, a little, for food substitution programmes through the B2SA (Diverse, Nutritious, Balanced, and Safe) programme,” he explained.
Bapanas is also proposing a budget for controlling food-insecure regions and supervising fresh food circulating in the community.
“There are also activities there for controlling food-insecure regions. Then there is also supervision of fresh food circulating in the community,” he said.
Sarwo explained that the proposed budget of around Rp16 trillion for 2027 is lower than the food assistance budget for 2026, which reached around Rp17 trillion.
“The budget is Rp17 trillion for 2026. For 2027, based on the available data, the number of beneficiaries has decreased. This means there has been an economic improvement,” Sarwo revealed.
In 2026, food assistance was provided to around 33.2 million beneficiary families (KPM), particularly people in deciles 1 to 4.
“That means the extremely poor. The number is 33.2 million beneficiary families or rice assistance beneficiaries,” he explained.
For 2027, Bapanas estimates that the number of beneficiaries will decrease. This is linked to the improvement in the economic conditions of people who were previously in deciles 1 to 4.
“For 2027, based on the available data, the number of beneficiaries has decreased. This means there has been an economic improvement from decile 1 to decile 4, perhaps moving up to decile 5 and so on, so the budget we are proposing is around Rp16 trillion,” Sarwo said.
However, Bapanas does not yet know the exact number of KPM who will receive food assistance in 2027. Sarwo said his agency is still waiting for data from the Ministry of Social Affairs.
“We have not received detailed KPM data from the Ministry of Social Affairs, only information that it has decreased,” he said.
Furthermore, the proposed additional budget of around Rp16 trillion has been discussed with the DPR. Sarwo said the DPR in principle agreed to the proposal, but asked Bapanas to provide a breakdown of its use.
“The DPR’s response was in principle agreement, but they asked for the details: how much for food assistance, how much for SPHP rice, how much for SPHP maize, how much for SPHP soybeans, how much for the cheap food movement,” Sarwo said.
He said Bapanas will prepare the breakdown in writing to be submitted to the DPR. Further discussion is scheduled for 25 August 2026.
“In writing. Earlier we were asked to propose the breakdown in writing. We will prepare it tomorrow, because there are plans for another hearing on 25 August,” he concluded.