JakartaPost-Oct 31, 2024
The government has earmarked a record budget of Rp 139.4 trillion (US$8.8 billion) to bolster food programs in 2025, according to the senior food minister, underscoring President Prabowo Subianto ’s pledge to achieve self-sufficiency in producing key staple foods over the next five years of his term. The 2025 food security budget is 21.9 percent higher than last year’s. “This food security budget is quite substantial and spread across various ministries. We need strong collaboration to meet the 2028-2029 self-sufficiency target,” Coordinating Food Minister Zulkifli Hasan told reporters on Wednesday, after a closed-door meeting at the Trade Ministry. The significant jump in the budget marks a departure from the smaller annual increases in past years. In his inaugural address on Oct. 20, Prabowo reiterated his commitment to achieving self-sufficiency in food and energy, saying this was “a must” for Southeast Asia’s largest economy to become a more prosperous nation. He also expressed confidence that Indonesia could achieve food self-sufficiency in four to five years and become a major food exporter. The food security budget covers a range of measures aimed at improving domestic agriculture, with non-ministerial spending of Rp 44.15 trillion allocated primarily to fertilizer subsidies managed by state-owned fertilizer producer PT Pupuk Indonesia. It also covers a 150,000-hectare plantation expansion program and an 80,000 ha plantation intensification program, which are to be jointly managed by the public works and agriculture ministries at an estimated cost of Rp 15 trillion. Read more at: https://www.thejakartapost.com/business/2024/10/31/govt-allocates-8-8-billion-for-food-security-in-2025.html.
