Government to Declare 2.73 Million Hectares of Paddy Fields as Protected Agricultural Land across 12 Provinces
Jakarta — The government will designate millions of hectares of paddy fields across 12 provinces as Protected Agricultural Land (Lahan Sawah yang Dilindungi). This policy shift on paddy field conversion authority will move from local government control to central authority, specifically the Ministry of Agrarian Affairs and Spatial Planning (ATR)/National Land Agency (BPN).
This was announced by Minister of ATR/Head of BPN Nusron Wahid following a coordination meeting of the Unified Team for Controlling Paddy Field Conversion, chaired by Coordinating Minister for Food Affairs Zulkifli Hasan at the Coordinating Ministry for Food Affairs office in Jakarta on Thursday, 12 March 2026.
Nusron stated this step represents a government strategy to ensure food security in Indonesia. The plan to designate protected agricultural land is targeted for completion by the end of the first quarter of 2026.
“We hope that by the end of Q1 we will have established the delineation or maps in the 12 provinces which will then be designated as protected agricultural land, meaning paddy fields that can no longer be converted to other uses. Based on Presidential Regulation Number 4 of 2026 on Controlling Paddy Field Conversion, the authority for conversion must be transferred to the centre; regions can no longer handle this,” said Nusron.
The 12 provinces to be designated by the end of Q1 include Aceh, North Sumatra, Riau, Jambi, South Sumatra, Bengkulu, Lampung, Bangka Belitung Islands, Riau Islands, West Kalimantan, South Kalimantan, and South Sulawesi.
Previously, Nusron noted, the government had designated eight provinces for protected agricultural land status in 2021.
Nusron explained that Presidential Regulation Number 12 of 2025 on the National Medium-Term Development Plan (RPJMN) 2025-2029 requires that to achieve food self-sufficiency, the government must designate sustainable agricultural land at a minimum of 87% of total raw paddy field area.
“Important regions include South Sulawesi, Lampung, and North Sumatra. These are truly the rice granaries,” he said.
The 12 provinces have an indicative total raw paddy field area of 2.85 million hectares in 2024. After accounting for various reduction factors, the proposed protected agricultural land designation totals 2.74 million hectares.
Coordinating Minister Zulhas stated that the Unified Team for Controlling Paddy Field Conversion discussed the proposal to designate the 12 provinces as protected agricultural land sites. These provinces will be designated by the Ministry of ATR/BPN through ministerial decision.
“The acceleration of sustainable paddy field spatial planning includes 8 plus 12 provinces in Q1, plus an additional 17 provinces by the end of Q2 or end of June. If this is not completed, further acceleration will be taken over by the centre, namely the Ministry of ATR/BPN,” said Zulhas.