Zulhas: Free Market Mechanism Pushes Farmers to Switch to Palm Oil
Coordinating Minister for Food Zulkifli Hasan reckons the free market mechanism after the reform era has shifted the direction of national economic development. Farmers tend to pick more profitable commodities, like palm oil, if growing rice no longer gives them enough profit. "If planting rice isn't profitable, well, plant palm oil," he said at the National Seminar on Red and White Village/Subdistrict Cooperatives, Tuesday (4/8/2026).
According to Zulkifli, the focus on sectors with high economic value has left the food sector a bit neglected, so domestic production hasn't been able to meet national needs and we've become dependent on imports. He stressed that food security can't be left entirely to the market mechanism; the state has to step in with policies that keep production sustainable and give farmers incentives.
President Prabowo Subianto is paying a lot of attention to food self-sufficiency, aiming to fulfill needs from domestic production and cut down imports. Food self-sufficiency, he says, isn't just an economic issue but also about national sovereignty. The government keeps pushing for agricultural productivity, strengthening farmer institutions, and making the most of the Red and White Village/Subdistrict Cooperatives as a driver of the village economy.
Zulkifli hopes the government's policies will create a farming ecosystem that's more profitable for farmers, so national food production goes up and Indonesia has stronger food security amid global economic ups and downs.
https://www.gelora.co/2026/08/