Amran Sulaiman's Agricultural Populism

November 17, 2025 | 10:49 am

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Food self-sufficiency is being achieved through populist policies. Like foam on the ocean.

THE apple never falls far from the tree: the minister imitates the president. Amran Sulaiman is using the same methods as Prabowo Subianto when making policy, starting from the same viewpoint. In touting food self-sufficiency, he is leading the Agriculture Ministry in a populist manner.

Claiming to be taking the side of the farmers, Amran proposed to Prabowo a policy obliging the State Logistics Agency (Bulog) to buy all the unhusked rice produced by farmers. Prabowo agreed, and in March, he issued Presidential Instruction No. 6/2025. Bulog then began buying all unhusked rice of any quality at a price of Rp6,500 per kilogram.

At first glance, this policy guarantees that farmers’ rice will be absorbed, and at the same time increases rice stocks—a symbol of food self-sufficiency. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization, a nation is self-sufficient if 90 percent of its food demand is met by domestic production. Although there have been no reports of intensification or massive harvests, the government claims that there will be a rice surplus of 5 million tons at the end of this year.

Two months after the rice purchase policy was launched, Bulog announced that rice reserves stood at 3.7 million tons—the highest level in the history of Indonesia, surpassing the Presidential Instruction target. In the era of President Joko Widodo, the highest stock was 1.6 million tons, and that included 1.3 million tons of imported rice.

But behind this apparently colossal achievement, the ‘any quality’ policy could become a disincentive for innovation. Farmers will not be encouraged to improve the quality of their rice because either good or poor quality rice will be purchased by Bulog at the same price. And dishonest farmers have an opportunity to mix good and poor quality rice, harvest rice that is not yet ready, or sell rice that has not dried yet. As a result, even if there are abundant stocks, the quality could be poor.

The Commission on Agriculture of the House of Representatives (DPR) found at least 300,000 tons of damaged rice in Bulog’s warehouses. According to the Ombudsman of the Republic of Indonesia, the potential state loss due to the damaged rice reached Rp4 trillion. This excludes the potential loss from the reduction in rice weight after milling due to poor quality paddy, which is estimated to reach Rp3 trillion.

If storage costs are included, the potential losses resulting from the ‘any quality’ policy swell even further. Bulog has received Rp5 trillion to build 100 new warehouses, adding to the 1,555 existing units. In addition, there are still costs to prevent further damage so that the government can maintain its claim of the highest rice reserves.

The policy of absorbing ‘any quality’ paddy also deprives the public of the choice to obtain premium quality rice. Moreover, in order to maintain rice stock figures, Bulog is holding back distribution, making rice scarce in the market. Business owners are also reluctant to sell for fear of being accused of mixing rice—mixing whole rice with broken rice, a common practice in the rice trade.

As a result, as of November 13, 2025, although stocks are abundant in Bulog’s warehouses, good quality rice is scarce in the market. Consequently, the price of rice penetrated Rp15,558 per kilogram, far above the government-set highest retail price (HET) of Rp12,500.

President Prabowo seems to ignore the logical contradiction in Amran’s policy. He appears to be so dazzled by Amran’s claims, which led him to “reward” Amran with a new job as Head of the National Food Agency (Bapanas). As Agriculture Minister and Bapanas Head, Amran is the regulator and operator of food affairs. He also has the authority to coordinate other ministries responsible for food supplies.

Similar to Prabowo’s style of leading the government by eliminating the checks and balances mechanism, there is no longer any control over agriculture and food policy. Members of the DPR Commission IV enthusiastically praised Amran’s performance in “stockpiling” rice in Bulog’s warehouses. While the mass media has been busy reporting Amran’s claims of eradicating the food mafia, improving the distribution of fertilizer, and managing the program to increase the number of rice fields without verifying the facts on the ground.

In the long term, Amran Sulaiman’s guided agriculture and policy populism will damage governance. Prabowo’s food resilience will be like foam on the ocean: appearing abundant and large on the surface, but fragile and hollow beneath.

Read the Complete Story in Tempo English Magazine

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