Prabowo Plans to Build Emergency Bulog Warehouses in Aceh, West Nusa Tenggara

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TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Agriculture Minister Amran Sulaiman revealed that President Prabowo Subianto has ordered the construction of emergency warehouses to store rice procured by state logistics agency Bulog. He said the warehouses will be built in regions that have been prioritized due to urgent need.

"The President has directed us to construct warehouses in areas that are truly in need—regions where existing storage is already full. Even after renting additional space, there is still a shortage. Examples include Aceh and West Nusa Tenggara (NTB)," Amran said during a press conference at the Agriculture Ministry office in Jakarta on Monday, May 5.

Amran said that the government has already rented additional facilities to accommodate up to 1.1 million tons of rice. When asked about the capacity of these planned emergency warehouses, he said it would depend on how much rice Bulog continues to absorb.

The funding for these warehouses, according to Amran, will come from the government, with the budget adjusted based on construction needs.

Previously, President Prabowo announced plans to build 25,000 emergency or makeshift warehouses to store the country's corn and rice production. Based on Amran's report, the existing Bulog and government-managed warehouses are no longer sufficient to handle the growing output.

"The agriculture minister and several other officials came to me saying, 'Sir, we are overwhelmed. We have no storage.' So I launched a fast-track program to build emergency warehouses—makeshift facilities. We will construct 25,000 of these using materials that can last around five to ten years," Prabowo said during a speech commemorating National Education Day 2025 at Cimahpar 5 Public Elementary School in Bogor, West Java, on Friday, May 2, as quoted by Antara.

Prabowo explained that these emergency warehouses are temporary solutions until permanent storage facilities, to be built under the Merah Putih Village Cooperative program, are completed. The President aims to begin construction on these facilities—complete with warehouses and cold storage—in 80,000 villages within the next three to four months.

"In the future, there will be no more harvests left to rot. Every village will have cold storage. Fruits and vegetables will be preserved properly, not wasted or spoiled due to delivery delays," the President said.

He added that the Merah Putih Village Cooperatives will also be equipped with trucks to ensure that farmers' and fishers' harvests can be transported to markets or to buyers such as Bulog.

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