According to him, the budget was refocused to tackle the challenges wrought by climate change last year, such as the El Nino phenomenon, the La Nina phenomenon, and drought.
He delivered the remarks at the "Accelerating Indonesia's Economic Growth: Challenges and Opportunities in a New Era" event in Jakarta on Thursday.
With budget refocusing, the allocation of Rp1.7 trillion (around US$104.6 million)—which was previously meant for official travels, seminars, building renovation, and meetings at hotels—was prioritized for purchasing superior seeds, pumps, and agricultural tools and machinery.
The resultant increase in rice production of 1.49 million tons provided added value equivalent to Rp17.89 trillion.
Sulaiman emphasized that the data is valid and has been obtained from Statistics Indonesia (BPS), and not from his ministry.
"August, September, and October are a scarcity period. It is impossible for production to increase because there is El Nino, La Nina, drought. However, what happened is in August–September, it (rice production) reached 3 million tons," he informed.
In addition to increased rice production, budget refocusing also resulted in corn exports of 50 thousand tons in May 2024.
The minister also shared the results of pumping rain-fed rice fields spread over a total area of 1 million hectares in Java and regions outside Java, a quick solution amid the challenges of drought.
With support from pumping, the planting index also increased.
He further said that 351 thousand hectares of swamp lands in West Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan, South Kalimantan, South Sumatra, and Lampung were also optimized last year.
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Translator: Rizka Khaerunnisa, Raka Adji
Editor: Azis Kurmala
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