Jakarta. The populous Indonesia will likely be self-sufficient in food within the next three years, according to Agricultural Minister Andi Amran Sulaiman.

Previous reports showed that Indonesia was once self-sufficient in food in 2017, 2019, and 2020, during which Indonesia did not import any of the so-called “medium rice” -- a term that describes rice that is in good but not the best quality. Food self-sufficiency is pivotal to a country’s development, and rice is a staple food in Indonesia. And so, the government has prepared several strategies to make sure that Indonesia can feed its population with domestic food production.

“We will achieve food self-sufficiency once again within the next three years,” Amran told the Investor Daily Roundtable discussions in Jakarta on Tuesday.

Some short-term strategies to expedite food production include installing water pumps which are set to expedite the harvest time. President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo earlier this year also called for more water pumps in the country to prevent hunger. The president also wants to see these water pumps installed in areas that produce staple crops like rice.

Amran said: “We will focus on the Java island. The target is to [install water pumps] across 500,000 hectares. … By having water pumps, the harvest will not only happen once but can also take place twice or even thrice.” 

Indonesia is also planning to expand the existing paddy fields by an additional 1 million hectares per year.

“This is our long-term strategy [towards food self-sufficiency],” Amran said.