Transformative Leadership is Key to Agricultural Sovereignty, Says Agriculture Minister
Makassar — Indonesia’s Agriculture Minister Andi Amran Sulaiman has emphasised that transformative leadership willing to overhaul agricultural systems forms the foundation for maintaining food sovereignty whilst driving a leap in the national economy.
Speaking in Makassar on Friday, Minister Amran stated that the agricultural sector requires leadership that does not hesitate to dismantle outdated systems that are cumbersome and ineffective.
Regulatory reform, subsidy restructuring, and trade mechanism improvements represent concrete steps to ensure policies have genuine impact on farmers.
“If we only do the same things and expect different results, that makes no sense. We must be brave in changing systems; Indonesia can make a leap,” he said whilst addressing a Leadership Camp for civil servants in South Sulawesi at the Sudiang Hajj Hostel in Makassar.
As evidence, he outlined subsidy fertiliser management reform through deregulation of 145 rules and streamlined distribution. The previously lengthy system has been shortened to be more efficient and transparent, involving only the Agriculture Ministry, PT Pupuk Indonesia, and farmer groups or retailers as the final distribution point to farmers.
This reform has reduced subsidised fertiliser costs by 20 per cent whilst increasing fertiliser volume by 700,000 tonnes without additional budget allocation. This step strengthens supply certainty and improves efficiency at farm level. The government also plans to construct seven new fertiliser factories to strengthen long-term national supply resilience.
Beyond systemic reform, Minister Amran emphasised that downstream processing of agricultural commodities forms part of strategic leadership to preserve national value addition.
“All our wealth must be processed downstream. Do not export raw materials. The added value must benefit the people,” he said.
Specifically, Minister Amran identified expanding opportunities for coconut downstream processing, driven by shifting global food consumption patterns, including in China, which is moving from animal milk such as cow and goat milk towards plant-based milk derived from coconut.
“This is coconut milk. There is a food consumption shift in China, moving from cow and goat milk to milk derived from coconut. The potential here is around 5,000 trillion rupiah,” he stated.
He also highlighted the gambir commodity, where Indonesia controls approximately 80 per cent of raw materials, yet processing still occurs overseas.
“Our gambir is exported to India, then India resells it to America. The potential could reach 5,000 trillion rupiah,” he said.
For crude palm oil (CPO), Indonesia controls approximately 60–70 per cent of the global market. With a strategy strengthening biofuel and reducing diesel imports, the added value could increase significantly.
“From just three commodities being processed downstream, we could generate 15,000 trillion rupiah,” he concluded.