Ministry of Agriculture Accelerates Simultaneous Rice Planting in 38 Districts Across East Java

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com - The Ministry of Agriculture is accelerating simultaneous rice planting in 38 districts across East Java province. This acceleration is aimed at maintaining food production at the beginning of the dry season and significantly increasing the additional planting area (LTT). The Directorate General of Food Crops, through the Central Forecasting Agency for Plant Pest Organisms (BBPOPT) and the East Java Provincial Government, is focusing this movement in Ngawi Regency. The initiator of the activity, Head of BBPOPT and Person in Charge of Sustainable Food Self-Sufficiency (SPB) for East Java, Yuris Tiyanto, stated that the accelerated planting must become a collective movement. “Through today’s movement, it is hoped that the LTT increase can reach 3.4% in one day or double that of the previous day,” said Yuris in an official statement from the Ministry of Agriculture on Friday (24/4/2026). According to him, the programme must be supported by various intensification programmes such as accelerated soil processing, pump irrigation, irrigation optimisation, and cross-sector coordination. Pest monitoring must also be monitored using technology developed by BBPOPT such as SIFORTUNA. The system is now even being used by the Presidential Staff Office (KSP) to compile reports to the president. “Through this technology, the potential for OPT (plant pest organisms) attacks can be predicted earlier so that control measures can be carried out quickly and accurately,” he concluded. In the same statement, the Head of Food Crops Division, East Java Agriculture and Food Security Office, Denny Kurniawan, mentioned that agriculture is currently facing the El Niño dry spell. According to him, over the last six years, East Java has continuously been Indonesia’s largest rice producer. “Simultaneous planting must be followed by simultaneous harvesting. We are facing a major challenge from El Niño,” he said. Nevertheless, this phenomenon does not occur evenly across all regions of Indonesia. Several areas in eastern Indonesia, such as Sulawesi, Maluku, and Halmahera, are instead likely to experience high rainfall. BRIN predicts that El Niño will occur along with the dry season, namely from April to October.