Polri launches nationwide garlic planting to boost food security

The Indonesian National Police (Polri) has launched a large-scale simultaneous garlic planting initiative across 14 regional police departments to support national food self-sufficiency. The program, which aligns with President Prabowo Subianto’s ‘Asta Cita’ mandate, aims to reduce Indonesia’s heavy reliance on imports, as current domestic production meets only a small fraction of the annual 600,000-ton demand.

Centralized activities took place in Sembalun, East Lombok, featuring a major harvest and the groundbreaking of a new Polri Food Security Warehouse with a 300-ton capacity. The Ministry of Agriculture is supporting these efforts with approximately Rp 55.65 billion in funding for the Lombok Timur region to expand planting areas and provide essential farming equipment and irrigation.

To date, the initiative has utilized approximately 279.5 hectares of land across 59 police stations, with projected harvests reaching thousands of tons. The program involves extensive collaboration between Polri, the Ministry of Agriculture, local governments, and thousands of farmers to strengthen the agricultural ecosystem from production to post-harvest storage.