PORTALJABAR, MAJALENGKA REGENCY - West Java Governor Dedi Mulyadi accompanied the President of the Republic of Indonesia Prabowo Subianto to inaugurate the main rice harvest in Randegan Wetan Village, Ligung District, Majalengka Regency, Monday (7/4/2025).

This rice harvest was also carried out simultaneously in 14 provinces and 157 regencies/cities throughout Indonesia. West Java was chosen as the center of the rice harvest because it is the national rice barn.

During the harvest, Prabowo went down to the rice fields to operate a "combine-harvester", a modern agricultural tool for harvesting rice.

Coordinating Minister for Food Zulkifli Hasan and Minister of Agriculture Andi Amran Sulaiman also boarded the device.

This bumper harvest is a symbol of the success of the planting season as well as proof of increased local agricultural productivity and the momentum to realize national food sovereignty.

From the report of Minister Andi Amran Sulaiman, national rice production is currently on an encouraging trend.

It is recorded that the warehouse stock is 2.4 million tons and is estimated that after this big harvest it will be 3 million tons, the highest in the last 10-20 years. Even because of the abundance of rice production, storage capacity is no longer sufficient.

After the rice harvest, President Prabowo greeted regional heads and farmers from 14 provinces who participated in the simultaneous rice harvest via video conference.

Governor Dedi Mulyadi also conveyed the farmers' aspirations to the President directly.

He said, the supply of fertilizer for farmers in West Java has been smooth. However, the obstacle is the cost of pest control drugs.

"Now the fertilizer is flowing smoothly, but the high production cost is in medicines because before starting to plant they have to spend money to spray snails or pests. They "spray" it twice a day," said Dedi.

He also asked for health insurance for farmers to be improved. Dedi said that there are quite a few farmers who are not yet covered by BPJS health.

"Please increase farmers' health insurance because many farmers who are sick are not covered by BPJS or their independent BPJS is not paid," he said.

As the national rice barn center, Dedi also hopes that the Ministry of Agriculture will add equipment to increase production.

"Because West Java is the national rice granary center, all the equipment must be added if we want to increase production," said Dedi.