Jakarta — The government continues to accelerate steps towards garlic self-sufficiency as part of a broader strategy to strengthen national food security.
Following up on President Prabowo Subianto’s directive, the Ministry of Agriculture (Kementan) is developing a comprehensive garlic production ecosystem, from seed provision and cultivation area development to market guarantees.
This step is expected to reduce Indonesia’s dependence on garlic imports, which currently still accounts for more than 90 percent of national demand.
Agriculture Minister Andi Amran Sulaiman emphasized that the government will fully oversee the acceleration of garlic self-sufficiency by providing comprehensive support to farmers.
This support includes the provision of seeds, production facilities, agricultural tools and machinery (alsintan), strengthening the role of state-owned food enterprises, and guaranteeing the absorption of harvested crops so that farmers have business certainty and are able to increase production sustainably.
“The President wants self-sufficiency. That’s why we’re building the ecosystem from seed to consumption. Previously, the approach was partial, which didn’t work. Now, we’re working together, and God willing, we can achieve self-sufficiency in three years,” said Amran.
According to Amran, the government’s main focus at present is strengthening the national nursery system as a foundation for increasing production.
The government is also preparing a Government Purchase Price (HPP) scheme for wet garlic to ensure farmers receive price certainty and reasonable profits.
“We support farmers. We have prepared a wet garlic HPP to ensure farmers don’t suffer losses. The government is there to act as a catalyst to stimulate national garlic production. We are monitoring the private sector, and we are reducing imports,” he stressed.
Meanwhile, Deputy Minister of Agriculture Sudaryono explained that the government is targeting garlic self-sufficiency within three to four years.
To accelerate this target, the government has prepared a budget of around IDR 400 billion through the State Budget to support the garlic nursery program covering 5,000 hectares this year.
According to Sudaryono, the main challenge to self-sufficiency lies not in the interest of farmers, but rather in the provision of seeds in large quantities and the development of land that suits the characteristics of garlic plants.
The government estimates that Indonesia needs around 100 thousand hectares of planting land spread across highland areas such as Sembalun in West Nusa Tenggara, Temanggung in Central Java, and Humbang Hasundutan in North Sumatra.
“We need at least three to four years to achieve garlic self-sufficiency. The main challenge is seed availability. Therefore, the government is establishing a seed breeding system to gradually meet national seed needs,” said Sudaryono.