"Developing post-harvest infrastructure is a permanent solution to strengthening the national food ecosystem from upstream to downstream," he said in a statement on Tuesday.
He made the remarks during a meeting with the Regional Representative Council (DPD) in Jakarta on Monday.
The government is building 100 post-harvest infrastructure units, focusing primarily on regions that still lack adequate food storage facilities.
These facilities will be used to store government rice reserves managed by the state-owned logistics firm Bulog.
This post-harvest infrastructure serves as the government's proactive measure to address food distribution challenges, ensure the availability of food stocks and supplies remain secure across regions and prevent price volatility.
The initiative is supported by a budget of around Rp5 trillion (approximately US$275.6 million).
"We want to build a strong system that ensures food is always available, distribution runs smoothly, and people can access fair prices," he said.
The Minister explained that these warehouses would serve as key hubs in the national food ecosystem, fully integrated with the Red and White Village Cooperatives, Bulog, and the Free Nutritious Meal (MBG) program.
Sulaiman highlighted the development of the infrastructure had become increasingly urgent as the national rice stocks managed by Bulog continued to increase.
As of early June, the government rice reserve had reached 5.3 million tons, exceeding Bulog's warehouse capacity of around 3 million tons.
Amid the situation, support warehouses have been used to maintain Bulog's rice stocks and ensure that rice can be distributed quickly for food price stabilization.
Chair of Committee II of the DPD, Badikenita Br Sitepu highlighted several food security challenges that require collective attention, including regional disparities in food availability, particularly in eastern Indonesia and island areas.
Other key challenges include high logistics costs, vulnerability to climate change, and the critical need to enhance the food distribution system to make it more equitable and efficient.
Therefore, Sitepu said accelerating post-harvest infrastructure development was a strategic government policy to address these challenges while strengthening national food security.
The post-harvest infrastructure development is mandated by Presidential Regulation No. 14 of 2026, which tasks Bulog to build these facilities nationwide.
Beyond expanding storage capacity, this infrastructure aims to support the absorption of local farmers' harvests, maintain crop quality, reduce post-harvest losses, extend shelf life, and strengthen the national food distribution network.
The 100 new post-harvest infrastructure will be equipped with dryers, rice milling units, paddy and corn silos, and modern rice processing facilities.
These facilities will be distributed across major food production hubs in Sumatra, Java, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, Bali, Nusa Tenggara, Maluku, and Papua.
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Translator: Muhammad Harianto, Raka Adji
Editor: Bayu Prasetyo
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