Khofifah: Collaboration Key to Making East Java a National Sugar Producer and Rice Barn

“Collaboration is the key; East Java has strong assets to keep contributing to Indonesia, as the nation’s largest sugar producer and one of Indonesia’s rice bowls,” Khofifah said in an official statement received in Malang, East Java, on Saturday.

East Java is able to contribute 51 percent of national sugar production, with white crystal sugar output in the region reaching 1.34 million tonnes in 2025.

Then, in 2026, East Java has been entrusted with implementing a ratoon unloading programme over 48,315 hectares of land and a sugarcane area expansion programme covering 6,582 hectares.

This brings the total sugarcane development target to 54,897 hectares spread across 24 sugarcane-producing regencies.

For rice, according to data from Statistics Indonesia (BPS), the harvested area of the commodity in East Java in 2025 reached approximately 1.84 million hectares, an increase of 13.88 percent compared to the previous year.

Rice production in that period amounted to 10.44 million tonnes of milled dry grain (GKG), an increase of 12.60 percent compared to 2024.

The 2026 rice production figure is equivalent to around 6.03 million tonnes of rice for public consumption, further cementing East Java’s position as one of Indonesia’s largest rice-producing provinces.

Khofifah stressed that these achievements do not stop her administration’s efforts to continue strengthening productivity in the food sector through increasingly intensive collaboration with various parties, particularly to support the acceleration of sugar self-sufficiency.

“And to bring innovation so that our contribution to national food security grows ever larger,” she said.

Khofifah assured that the provincial government remains fully supportive of the various strategic programmes initiated by the central government, especially those concerning the strengthening of national food security.

“We are optimistic that national food security will grow ever stronger and that Indonesia can achieve sustainable food sovereignty,” she said.