Indonesian Agriculture Minister Andi Amran Sulaiman is pretty concerned about all the imported cassava flooding the market. He’s worried it’s gonna mess up the local farmers’ income, productivity, and overall competitiveness. So, he decided to shoot a letter over to Coordinating Minister of Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto, suggesting a quick pow-wow involving the Industry Ministry, Finance Ministry, and Trade Ministry to figure out what to do about it.
In his statement, Sulaiman mentioned how the Ministry of Agriculture needs to step in and protect the local cassava farmers who are struggling to sell their crops due to all these imports. The guy sent the proposal letter on May 14 after hearing about a report from Statistics Indonesia (BPS) that showed a big jump in the amount of imported cassava and its by-products between 2023 and 2024.
According to Sulaiman, if they don’t do something soon to control these imports, it’s gonna mess things up for the farmers and make it even harder for them to sell their stuff at decent prices. He’s all about supporting President Prabowo Subianto’s plan to beef up food security, use more local materials, and speed up agricultural growth. Sulaiman’s like, “If we got enough of our own cassava, why are we even bothering with imports? Let’s have the backs of our farmers and make some bold moves for food sovereignty.” So, yeah, that’s where we’re at with that whole situation.
