Agriculture. Indonesia’s Agriculture Minister Andi Amran Sulaiman has publicly exposed what he calls “serakahnomic” — predatory practices in the national rice business that favor large players while harming small mills and farmers. He says these tactics include deliberate price manipulation, capture of subsidies, and the sale of low-quality, mixed rice marketed as premium.
What Amran revealed
Amran told the story in a YouTube interview, describing how major traders and processors buy up rice paddy (GKP — Gabah Kering Panen) by offering slightly higher prices than the market. That small edge is enough to divert nearly all supply to big buyers, leaving local small-scale mills without raw material and unable to compete. According to Amran, this strategy has existed for years but is now being exposed.
Quality manipulation and misleading labels
The minister also shared a striking finding about so-called premium rice: brands sold as “premium” were found to contain up to 59% broken grains, far exceeding the roughly 14% breakage that premium standards permit. Amran warned that some products effectively contain polishing byproducts or even feed-grade fractions repackaged as premium, a practice he links to the same profit-driven “serakahnomic” pattern.
Subsidies captured by large players
Amran pointed out that government subsidies and facilities intended to support smallholders are sometimes enjoyed by large corporations instead. He did not map every mechanism but stressed the need to ensure subsidies reach the intended beneficiaries — small farmers and local millers — rather than being captured by bigger market actors.
Why this matters
These combined problems — supply capture, quality manipulation, and subsidy diversion — damage small producers’ livelihoods and mislead consumers who pay more for inferior products. Amran framed the issue as both an economic and social failure that requires systematic food-system reform so Indonesia’s poorest producers are not pushed out by unfair market tactics.
What Amran calls for
Amran urged the government to overhaul the national food system to protect small mills and farmers, ensure subsidy targeting, and enforce product-quality standards so labels like “premium” reflect the true grain quality. He emphasized that the state must side with those who have been disadvantaged by these entrenched practices.
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