East Kalimantan Targets Full Rice Self-Sufficiency by End of 2026
The East Kalimantan Provincial Government is targeting 100 per cent rice self-sufficiency by the end of 2026 by expanding new paddy field cultivation and modernising irrigation infrastructure in several regional food barns.
“We have already experienced an increase in paddy production. Currently, the achievement is over 60 per cent, and we target reaching 100 per cent by the end of 2026,” said the Vice Governor of East Kalimantan, Seno Aji, after leading a coordination meeting on Rice Self-Sufficiency at the Governor’s Office on Monday.
According to Seno Aji, achieving rice self-sufficiency in East Kalimantan requires hard work and collaboration from all parties, as progress also depends on the support of policies and programmes from the Ministry of Agriculture.
Currently, the total rice requirement in East Kalimantan is around 350,000 tonnes per year. When converted to Dry Milled Grain (GKG), the region requires approximately 600,000 tonnes of GKG per year.
Based on data released by the local Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS), the physical volume of East Kalimantan’s independent production has only reached 270,867 tonnes of GKG per year, which, after milling, produces 157,555 tonnes of consumable rice.
As local production capacity only meets a portion of the demand, the remaining deficit of approximately 192,000 tonnes of rice must still be brought in periodically via inter-island supplies, primarily from the provinces of South Sulawesi and East Java.
“We are continuing discussions so that all regencies and cities will immediately carry out revitalisation or re-verification of data, and then submit it to the East Kalimantan Provincial Food, Food Crops, and Horticulture Service,” Seno Aji emphasised.
In the near future, the East Kalimantan Provincial Government will submit progress reports and regional work plans to the Ministry of Agriculture as part of the efforts to accelerate rice self-sufficiency.
“By the end of this July, the work plan until the end of 2026 is expected by the Minister of Agriculture,” he explained.
Seno Aji explained that 10 regencies and cities in East Kalimantan, together with Perum Bulog, the Indonesian National Armed Forces (TNI), and development partners, continue to strengthen coordination and work in the field to accelerate the achievement of rice self-sufficiency.
Currently, there are approximately 31,000 hectares of active paddy fields out of a total of about 46,000 hectares of paddy land. This year, the government also targets the creation of 2,300 hectares of new paddy fields and the addition of approximately 12,800 hectares of land, so that there is an expected addition of about 15,000 hectares of active paddy fields.
“This means there will be an addition of about 15,000 hectares of active paddy land in East Kalimantan,” he said.
He added that the largest areas of paddy land in East Kalimantan are located in Berau, East Kutai, West Kutai, Paser, North Penajam Paser, and Kutai Kartanegara regencies.
Furthermore, the provision of agricultural tools and machinery (alsintan) remains one of the challenges in accelerating rice self-sufficiency. This is because local governments are not permitted to provide agricultural machinery assistance directly, as that authority lies with the central government.
“All agricultural machinery assistance comes from the Ministry of Agriculture. Our task is to facilitate proposals from farmer groups so they can be submitted to the Minister of Agriculture through the Food Service,” he elaborated.
The Ministry of Agriculture aims for East Kalimantan to have at least 65,000 hectares of active paddy fields with a productivity of 4-5 tonnes per hectare and two harvest seasons per year.
“If that target is met, East Kalimantan is guaranteed to achieve rice self-sufficiency and simultaneously produce a rice surplus,” Seno Aji asserted.