Indonesian Farmers’ Welfare Shows Positive Progress: Govt

RRI.CO.ID, Jakarta - The welfare of Indonesian farmers showed significant progress in July 2026, reflected in the Farmer’s Price Index (NTP), which reached 127.84 -- the highest level in Indonesia’s history.

Agriculture Minister Andi Amran Sulaiman said the record‑high NTP demonstrates that agricultural reforms are beginning to deliver economic benefits for farmers. The government has implemented wide‑ranging reforms across the agricultural sector, from production to crop marketing.

“Food self‑sufficiency must bring prosperity to farmers. If farmers are prosperous, production will increase, and the public will also have access to food at stable prices,” Minister Amran said in a statement in Jakarta on Tuesday, August 11, 2026, as quoted by Antara.

According to Amran, the rise in the NTP indicates that farmers’ incomes are growing faster than their expenses. This strengthens farmers’ ability to meet household needs while financing their farming operations.

He added that President Prabowo Subianto has instructed the government to achieve food self‑sufficiency immediately, but emphasized that the goal must be accompanied by improvements in farmers’ welfare.

“President Prabowo has instructed us to achieve food self‑sufficiency immediately. But more importantly, that self‑sufficiency must bring prosperity to farmers,” he said.

The government is carrying out reforms through deregulation, streamlined services, strengthened production facilities, infrastructure development, and crop‑price protection. These policies aim to reduce production costs and increase farmers’ incomes.

One major reform involves the management of subsidized fertilizer under Presidential Regulation No. 6/2025. The government has also reduced the Maximum Retail Price for subsidized fertilizer by around 20 percent, lowering the price of urea from IDR 2,250 to IDR 1,800 per kilogram and NPK from IDR 2,300 to IDR 1,840 per kilogram.

On the production side, the government is accelerating assistance with high‑quality seeds, agricultural tools and machinery, and the construction and rehabilitation of irrigation systems and pump‑based irrigation programs. Improved water availability is expected to maintain land productivity and increase cropping intensity amid climate change.

The government has also set the Government Purchase Price for dry‑harvested grains at IDR 6,500 per kilogram, providing price certainty and ensuring farmers’ harvests are not easily depressed during peak harvest periods.

“Farmers must earn a fair profit. The government provides support ranging from fertilizer, water, and mechanization to ensuring their harvests are absorbed at fair prices. If farmers profit, agriculture will continue to grow,” Minister Amran said.

He noted that the combination of policies is creating an increasingly supportive agricultural ecosystem. Deregulation accelerates services, cheaper fertilizer reduces production costs, production facilities boost productivity, irrigation strengthens farming operations, and price protection safeguards farmers’ profits.

“All these efforts are reflected in the July 2026 NTP achievement, which set the highest record in Indonesia’s history,” Minister Amran said. ***