Warning! Zulhas Says Drought Conditions Mean Rice Fields Are No Longer Producing

Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – Coordinating Minister for Food Zulkifli Hasan has acknowledged that rice prices in the market are beginning to rise. This comes as supplies from farmers thin with the arrival of the dry season.

Zulhas said conditions this year differ from last year. In 2025, Indonesia experienced a wet drought, with rain still falling until the end of the year, allowing farmers to keep planting rice. This year, however, conditions are drier, disrupting farmers’ production.

“But this year it’s dry — there are almost no more rice fields or farmers producing. We call it paceklik or gadu, so there is no production,” Zulhas said at a press conference at his office in Jakarta on Monday (7/9/2026).

The thinning supply has begun to push up rice prices in the market. Zulhas said the increase has so far reached around Rp100–Rp200.

“Therefore, because supply is thinning and there is no production, prices will certainly rise. There has been an increase of Rp100–Rp200,” he said.

To dampen the price increase, the government has decided to add 1 million tonnes of subsidised rice under the Food Supply and Price Stabilisation (SPHP) programme.

The addition comes after the previous SPHP allocation of 828,000 tonnes had nearly run out, with only around 80,000 tonnes of stock remaining.

“We are adding another 1 million tonnes of medium-grade SPHP rice. So the subsidised rice sold in the market will cost around Rp12,000 per kg, at most Rp12,500 per kg,” he said.

Bulog President Director Ahmad Rizal said the 1-million-tonne addition exceeds Bulog’s original proposal. Bulog initially requested an additional 400,000 tonnes to anticipate rice needs through the end of the year.

“For SPHP rice, we initially proposed an addition of 400,000 tonnes to anticipate conditions ahead. Because the SPHP rice stock currently in Bulog’s warehouses is only about 100,000 tonnes to cover September, October, November, and December,” Rizal said after the press conference.

However, the government ultimately approved an addition of up to 1 million tonnes. Rizal said the supply also serves as mitigation, as the next harvest is not expected until March 2027.

“So our needs are really for September, October, November, December. But on the instructions of the Coordinating Minister and the Minister of Agriculture, there is no harvest in January and February. The harvest will come in March. That’s why our initial proposal of 400,000 tonnes was doubled to 1 million tonnes,” he explained.

Rizal assured that the additional SPHP rice will be distributed through various channels, from Rumah Pangan Kita (RPK) to the Red and White Village/Neighbourhood Cooperatives (KDKMP).

“To all of them — there are ten channels in total, including RPK and KDKMP,” he said.

Beyond rice, the government is also preparing several other measures to safeguard food supplies during the dry period, including channelling 150,000 tonnes of SPHP maize to small and medium livestock farmers, and processing Bulog rice that has declined in quality into raw material for flour.