Prabowo Vows to Rejuvenate All Sugarcane Plantations in Indonesia

Jakarta (ANTARA) - President Prabowo Subianto has affirmed that all sugarcane plantations in Indonesia will be rejuvenated to ensure self-sufficiency in sugar production, as part of efforts to strengthen the nation’s food security.

At a joint grand harvest event with the TNI in Malang, East Java, on Friday, Prabowo said his government is continuing its push for self-sufficiency across a range of sectors, including energy, water and food.

“Earlier, the Minister of Agriculture told me that there has been no sugarcane rejuvenation for 12 years — 12 years. We will now rejuvenate all the sugarcane we have,” the President said.

“But when I pressed him further, he boldly and confidently said, ‘Sir, we can do it in two years’,” Prabowo added.

According to Ministry of Agriculture data as of November 2025, there are 796,621 sugarcane farmers managing 520,823 hectares of harvested land.

At the same event, the President also expressed his appreciation to the TNI for implementing an integrated assistance programme for farmers in support of food self-sufficiency.

For the sugarcane commodity specifically, the Indonesian Air Force (TNI AU) is providing assistance across 236,048 hectares of land, with a production potential of 18.386 million tonnes of sugarcane, equivalent to 1.36 million tonnes of sugar.

The President noted that the efforts of the TNI and Polri — which are running similar assistance programmes — together with state-owned enterprises, private companies, academics and farmers demonstrate how all components of the nation are uniting to overcome the people’s difficulties.

“This shows that the TNI and Polri are not only guardians of the nation’s defence and security. The TNI and Polri are an inseparable part of the Indonesian people,” said Prabowo Subianto.