MALANG — Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto has pushed back against complaints about expensive rice, arguing that public discussions over food prices must also consider the income and working conditions of farmers.

Speaking at an integrated military-supported harvest in Malang, East Java, on July 17, 2026, Prabowo said critics should experience the difficulty of growing rice before demanding prices that could reduce producers’ earnings.

He jokingly suggested that the military and the Agriculture Ministry could prepare land for people who wanted to try cultivating rice themselves. His central message was that farmers should be allowed to earn a reasonable income for producing the country’s main staple.

The Two Sides of Rice Pricing

Rice policy requires the government to balance two interests that can pull in opposite directions.

Consumers need stable and affordable prices because rice accounts for an important part of household spending. Farmers, meanwhile, must cover the cost of seeds, fertilizer, labor, irrigation, land, harvesting and post-harvest handling.

A low retail price may benefit consumers in the immediate term, but it can become unsustainable when it is achieved by depressing the amount received by producers. Higher prices do not automatically improve farmer welfare either, particularly when most of the increase is absorbed by intermediaries, transportation or inefficient distribution.

Prabowo’s remarks placed greater emphasis on the producer side of that equation. He praised Indonesian farmers and fishers as essential contributors who supply food for the entire population.

The policy challenge is therefore not simply to decide whether rice should be cheap or expensive. It is to build a supply chain in which farmers earn adequate returns while consumers are protected from unnecessary price increases.

A Harvest Across 43 Locations

The event at Abdulrachman Saleh Air Force Base formed part of a simultaneous harvest conducted at 43 locations nationwide.

The Indonesian Air Force supported sugarcane harvesting at eight sites, the Army assisted rice production at 31 sites, and the Navy worked with soybean farmers at four locations.

The program reflects the administration’s decision to treat food security as a national undertaking rather than the responsibility of the Agriculture Ministry alone.

Prabowo said achieving food self-sufficiency would require cooperation among farmers, government agencies, regional authorities, businesses, the armed forces, the police and other parts of society.

Malang Sugarcane Harvest Targets 72,045 Tons

General Agus Subiyanto, commander of the Indonesian National Armed Forces, reported that 800.5 hectares of sugarcane were ready for harvesting at the Malang site.

Production was estimated at 72,045 tons, with factories paying an average of approximately Rp720,000 per ton.

The government is also encouraging downstream processing rather than treating sugar as the crop’s only economic output. Sugarcane by-products can be used to produce molasses, bioethanol, organic fertilizer and inputs for industrial or pharmaceutical applications.

Such processing could increase the value generated from agricultural land, although its benefits for farmers will depend on their access to processing facilities, contractual terms and the distribution of revenue across the supply chain.

A Broader Role for the Security Forces

Prabowo framed military participation in agriculture as part of the armed forces’ responsibility to serve the public.

He said the military and police were inseparable from Indonesian society and should be present when communities faced practical difficulties. Under this approach, their role includes assisting cultivation, coordinating local programs and supporting the national objective of food self-sufficiency.

The Malang program followed a police-supported corn harvest held in Tuban, East Java, on May 16, 2026. That event also included the groundbreaking of ten food-security warehouses and the launch of 166 police-operated nutrition service units.

The date is important because some secondary accounts incorrectly referred to the earlier event as taking place in May 2024. Official government records confirm it occurred two months before the Malang harvest, in May 2026.

Production Is Only the First Test

A successful harvest does not by itself guarantee stronger food security.

Farmers require reliable buyers, fair pricing, affordable inputs, irrigation, storage and post-harvest equipment. Consumers require sufficient supplies, effective distribution and targeted assistance when staple prices strain household budgets.

The government must therefore assess more than the number of hectares harvested or tons produced. Other indicators include how much income reaches farmers, how large the gap is between farm-gate and retail prices, how much produce is lost after harvesting, and whether supply remains stable throughout the year.

Prabowo’s comments in Malang represented a forceful defense of farmer earnings. The long-term test will be whether the administration can translate that position into a system that rewards food producers without making rice unaffordable for lower-income families.

The nationwide harvest demonstrates the government’s capacity to mobilize institutions around agricultural production. Its economic success will depend on what happens after the crops leave the fields.