April 30, 2025

Indonesia prepares 10,000 superior soybean seeds to boost domestic production

Indonesian Agriculture Minister Andi Amran Sulaiman said he had prepared 10,000 superior soybean seeds to increase the country's production of the commodity to support food security and domestic industrial needs.

"We will start the trial this year. We asked for 10,000 soybean seeds to be monitored," he remarked at an event on April 26. He conveyed this in response to news on tempeh entrepreneurs impacted by the increase in the price of imported soybeans from the United States by reducing the size of tempeh.

According to Sulaiman, the trial is expected to reach production of three tonnes per hectare to ensure success on a national scale. He stated that the project will be closely monitored with a new system from the Bogor Agricultural Institute (IPB).

In his first 100 days of work, the minister was focused on handling Indonesia's corn and rice supply crisis, but is now preparing to seriously accelerate the development of soybeans and other strategic commodities such as wheat.

He hopes the soybean development programme will be able to cut dependence on imported soybeans.

While  the location for the development of the soybean seeds has not been detailed, Sulaiman assured the entire programme will be carried out with strict supervision to ensure the production achievement.

Meanwhile, based on monitoring from the National Food Agency Price Panel on April 27, the average price of imported dry soybeans nationally at the consumer level reached Rp10,773 (US$0.62) as of April 26, 2025.

- Antara