JAKARTA (Oct 22): Indonesia plans to open between 750,000 hectares and one million hectares (2.47 million acres) of new rice fields in 2025, part of new President Prabowo Subianto's drive for food self-reliance, its agriculture minister said on Tuesday.

Prabowo took office on Sunday, starting his five-year term with a fiery speech reiterating a focus on achieving food and energy self-sufficiency.

Indonesia is a major importer of food commodities like wheat and sugar. In the past two years, its rice imports have jumped, reaching over three million metric tonnes each year, as domestic output was hit by unusually dry weather.

On top of new rice fields, the government plans to intensify production from existing rice fields through programmes such as the distribution of water pumps, said Andi Amran Sulaiman, former President Joko Widodo's agriculture minister who retains his job in Prabowo's cabinet.

"(Self-sufficiency target) is not easy. We need to coordinate so that, going forward, regulations are simplified and we can move quickly," Amran told reporters after a meeting with the state enterprise minister and state food companies.

It was not clear how effective the efforts would be to raise next year's rice output, or how soon the new rice fields would start producing.

Indonesia's rice output in 2024 is estimated to decline 2.43% from the previous year to 30.34 million tons, due to a delay in planting and harvest season amid prolonged dry weather from 2023. Output in 2023 was also affected by the dry El Nino weather pattern.

Prabowo aims to expand farmland by three million hectares in the next five years — roughly the size of Belgium — to cultivate staples, deputy agriculture minister Sudaryono, who also retains his job in the new government, said earlier this month.

Amran said the government was looking at creating farmland in Sumatra and Borneo islands, as well as the easternmost region of Papua.

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