Jakarta (ANTARA) - Agriculture Minister Andi Amran Sulaiman said he had prepared 10 thousand superior soybean seeds to increase national production of the commodity to support food security and domestic industrial needs.
"We will start the trial this year. We asked for 10 thousand soybean seeds to be monitored," he remarked at an event on Saturday (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 (US) by reducing the size of tempeh.
Responding to this, Sulaiman informed the plan to increase domestic soybean production by using 10 thousand superior seeds.
According to him, this plan is expected to reach production of three tons per hectare to ensure success on a national scale.
He stated that this project will be closely monitored with a new system from the Bogor Agricultural Institute (IPB).
He considered this plan as a solution to tempeh entrepreneurs who have recently reduced their sizes due to relatively expensive raw materials.
In his first 100 days of work, the minister was focused on handling the 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 this soybean development program will be massive to suppress dependence on imported soybeans.
Moreover, President Prabowo Subianto also emphasized accelerated national food production including soybeans and wheat, through concrete steps and a modern agricultural system based on results, Sulaiman recalled.
Although the location for the development of the 10 thousand soybean seeds has not been detailed, he ensured the entire program will be carried out with strict supervision to ensure the production achievement.
Meanwhile, based on monitoring from the National Food Agency Price Panel on Sunday, the average price of imported dry soybeans nationally at the consumer level reached Rp10,773 (US$0.62) as of April 26, 2025.
That figure is not much different from the price of the previous day with Rp10,766 per kilogram.
