Agriculture Minister Amran Sulaiman
No need to import rice, yet

Indonesia once declared itself self-sufficient in food and even exported rice, back in 1984. Today, we are still grappling with the problem. Somehow, the rice issue, then and now, has never been settled. Issues from the high cost of production to the differences in the harvest numbers to the decision whether to import not are strongly debated within the sector. Agriculture Minister Amran Sulaiman, for example, has always insisted that the supply of domestically produced rice is secure. "No need to import rice yet," he told Tempo reporter Pribadi Wicaksono in Yogyakarta, last week.

November 10, 2015