Ministry of Agriculture Seeks Ways to Store Excess National Food Stocks, Including Rice, Corn, and Chicken Meat

Special Staff to the Minister of Agriculture for Government Policy, Sam Herodian, explained that national food stocks for 2025 are increasing rapidly. Currently, national rice stocks reach 4.07 million tonnes, ensuring food security remains safe. The Ministry of Agriculture is not satisfied with this achievement alone; productivity will be ramped up further to achieve 10 tonnes per hectare so that national rice stocks become abundant. Besides rice, the government is striving to increase other food products such as corn to 10.2 million tonnes, shallots to 2.18 million tonnes, and chillies at 1.72 million tonnes. Now, with abundant food availability, the next challenge is storing the excess stocks. “Now it’s not about shortages of materials, but how to store and manage excess production,” Sam stated. As a result, the excess stocks must be well maintained and stored so as not to pressure market prices. “That means our production exceeds needs. There is availability, reserves, and carry-over stock,” explained I Gusti Ketut, quoted from Kontan. Until June 2026, rice stocks will still be around 15.8 million tonnes, a relatively safe figure. “Until June we still have 15.8 million tonnes. This is very safe,” he clarified. The government currently assesses that policy focus now needs to shift to strengthening storage and distribution capacities so that excess supply does not pressure food prices in the market.