Elimination of Import Quotas Could Harm Farmers and Hinder Food Self-Sufficiency

JAKARTA, KOMPAS — The government plans to open up imports of commodities that affect the lives of many people to anyone, even without import quotas. If it is actually implemented, the policy will trigger a flood of food imports, harming farmers and ranchers, and hampering the food self-sufficiency program.

In an Economic Discussion in Jakarta on April 8, 2025, President Prabowo Subianto instructed the Minister of Agriculture and the Minister of Trade to remove import quotas for commodities that affect the lives of many people.

In the future, imports of commodities will be more open to anyone who can import them. One of the commodities the President referred to was meat.

"Anyone can import. Whatever they want to import, just go ahead. Our people are smart, right? Make quotas, then only those companies that are appointed can import. It's easy," he said.

The elimination of import quotas is one of the Indonesian government's policy plans to respond to the United States' (US) imposition of a 32 percent reciprocal tariff on Indonesian products.

In the 2025 National Trade Estimate (NTE) published by the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR), Indonesia is considered to be hampering trade through import quota policies, imports based on commodity balances, and import assignments through Perum Bulog.

Professor of the Faculty of Agriculture, IPB University, Dwi Andreas Santosa, Wednesday (9/4/2025), said that so far, Indonesia has given relatively light import duties for 12 main food commodities, namely 0-10 percent.

These commodities are rice, corn, wheat, soybeans, cane sugar, cassava, garlic, peanuts, beef, potatoes, onions, and milk.

With the light tariff, imports of 12 main food commodities in the last 10 years have jumped 11.79 million tons. As an illustration, the import volume of the 12 commodities in 2014 was 22.56 million tons. In 2024, the import volume has reached 34.35 million tons.

If imports are free for anyone and import quotas are removed, the flood of food imports will be even greater. In the end, farmers will be the ones who will suffer.

"If imports are freed for anyone and import quotas are removed, the flood of food imports will be even greater. In the end, farmers will be the ones who will suffer," he said when contacted from Jakarta.

Dwi added, currently, farmers are enthusiastic about increasing food production along with the rolling of the food self-sufficiency program. If the path taken by the government is to open the import tap massively, even without quotas, the enthusiasm of farmers to increase production will certainly fade. The food self-sufficiency program will also be hampered.

In the era of Prabowo Subianto's leadership, Indonesia targeted food self-sufficiency, especially rice, feed corn, salt, and sugar. In fact, the government has stopped importing rice in 2025.

In addition, the Ministry of Agriculture (Kementan) also has a blueprint for self-sufficiency in beef and cow's milk 2025-2029 to support the Free Nutritious Meal program. Kementan has also opened opportunities for investors to bring in beef cattle and dairy cows to be bred in Indonesia.

Sugianto, Chairman of the Merapi Livestock and Milk Cooperative (KPSM) Seruni, Boyolali, Central Java, admitted that he was interested in developing dairy farming in his area. He and the association of milk cooperatives in Indonesia have volunteered to raise imported dairy cows.

"I am worried that by opening the large-scale import tap for anyone and without import quotas, milk imports will actually increase," he said.

Therefore, the Indonesian government needs to be careful in responding to reciprocal tariffs and US accusations in the 2025 NTE. Before deregulating import policies, especially food, Indonesia must continue to prioritize protection for farmers and ranchers as well as food self-sufficiency programs.

Head of the Center for Food, Energy, and Sustainable Development at the Institute for Development of Economics and Finance (Indef) Abra PG Talattov said that Prabowo's statement regarding the policy of opening the import tap and removing import quotas was still too general. The President has not specifically mentioned the commodities in question, except for meat.

However, to deregulate food import policies, the government must still rely on two laws. First, Law Number 18 of 2012 concerning Food. Article 36 of the law lays down the basic principles of food import policies.

"One of them is that food imports can only be carried out if domestic food production is insufficient and/or cannot yet be produced domestically," said Abra.

Second, Law Number 19 of 2013 concerning the Protection and Empowerment of Farmers. Article 15 of the Law states that the government must prioritize domestic agricultural production to meet national food needs and food imports must go through a coordination mechanism between related ministries.

"From both laws, the government cannot import all food commodities just like that, in order to protect farmers. Food imports can only be done if there is a shortage of production and there are commodities that cannot be produced domestically," he said.

For that reason, Abra recommends that the government first identify imported food commodities that will be regulated. In addition, the calculation also takes into account the level of sensitivity of the deregulation policy to producers (farmers and ranchers) and domestic industries.

The government also needs to ensure that the import deregulation policy does not hamper the government's food self-sufficiency and food reserve programs. With these considerations, Indonesia can still import feed corn and increase wheat and soybean imports from the US.

"Currently, imports of feed corn are still needed while waiting for the realization of corn self-sufficiency. Meanwhile, wheat and soybeans will continue to be needed because Indonesia has difficulty producing them domestically," he said.

Abra added that Indonesia still needs to maintain a commodity balance. The balance can be used as a tool to maintain the balance of imported commodities with those produced domestically.