The Government is Spurring Village Economic Growth Through National-Scale Agricultural Downstreaming
Jakarta — President Prabowo Subianto’s administration continues to demonstrate its commitment to creating jobs and strengthening the rural economy through massive investments in the agricultural sector and downstream industries. The government officially announced the construction of 100 agricultural processing factories across various regions starting in 2026, with an investment value of US$22 billion (approximately Rp371 trillion).
Agriculture Minister Andi Amran Sulaiman explained that the investment will encourage industrialization in the food, plantation, and livestock sectors, while also potentially absorbing up to eight million national workers.
“If the total downstream investment is Rp371 trillion, it will create 8 million jobs,” Amran said in Jakarta some time ago.
Amran said the full implementation of the downstreaming program would create three million new jobs in the first three years, or around one million workers annually.
“So, that’s 1 million jobs per year. So, that’s very realistic. We always keep our calculations moderate,” he added.
He emphasized that the downstreaming policy is a concrete step to strengthen the added value of domestic commodities and improve farmer welfare.
“At the direction of President Prabowo, we are moving quickly with the Minister of Investment and Downstream Development, who is also the Head of Danantara. We plan to invest a total of IDR 371 trillion in the agriculture, food, livestock, horticulture, and plantation sectors,” said Amran.
This program also targets village economic empowerment through collaboration with village communities and local cooperatives. Deputy Minister of Villages and Development of Disadvantaged Regions, Ariza Patria, believes that the nation’s economic strength must grow from the villages.
“Indonesia’s development cannot just be top-down, but must come from the villages, from the countryside, from the people themselves,” he said while attending the Nuswantara Village Council Declaration in Malang, East Java.
According to Ariza, village communities, along with cooperatives and MSMEs, will be the main drivers in creating a strong food supply chain and attracting investment to the village level.
“Villages are the roots of a nation’s civilization. This is where the values of mutual cooperation grow, social solidarity is formed, and the people’s economic independence begins,” he stressed.
This step affirms President Prabowo’s vision of building a national economy from villages, strengthening downstream processing, and opening up broad job opportunities for people across Indonesia.***
