President Admits Indonesia Not Yet Self-Sufficient in Beef and Buffalo Meat

President Prabowo Subianto has acknowledged that Indonesia has still not achieved self-sufficiency in beef and buffalo meat. These commodities remain part of the government’s outstanding tasks, even as self-sufficiency has been reached for eight other food commodities.

Prabowo stated that the government is currently still striving for self-sufficiency in garlic, soybeans, beef, and buffalo meat. Meanwhile, Indonesia has achieved self-sufficiency in rice, maize, large chillies, bird’s eye chillies, consumption sugar, chicken meat, chicken eggs, and shallots.

“We are still working towards self-sufficiency in garlic, soybeans, beef, and buffalo meat,” Prabowo said during his state address at the Annual Session of the People’s Consultative Assembly and the Joint Session of the House of Representatives and the Regional Representatives Council at the Parliament Complex in Jakarta on Friday (14/8/2026).

According to Prabowo, the government has accelerated the achievement of food self-sufficiency. A target previously estimated to require four to five years was reportedly achieved within a single year. “Because of our policies and hard work, the food self-sufficiency we previously targeted to achieve in four to five years has been successfully achieved in one year,” he stated.

Prabowo assessed that food security is a vital component of national independence. He argued that Indonesia must be able to meet its own food needs and not depend on supplies from abroad. “A strong nation must be able to feed its own people,” Prabowo said. He noted that the achievement of food self-sufficiency was the result of joint efforts by the government, farmers, agricultural extension workers, regional governments, the military, the police, state-owned food enterprises, cooperatives, and various other elements.