JAVA – Indonesian President Joko Widodo has asked the military to help farmers boost rice production as the onset of El Nino and export curbs from top shipper India tighten supply of the staple grain.

The President, popularly known as Jokowi, asked the military to assist with monitoring rice planting and distribution of subsidised fertiliser, while urging farmers to speed up sowing to take advantage of recent rainfall. El Nino, which typically brings dry conditions to parts of Asia, had delayed the start of seasonal rains.

“I ask agricultural instructors and military supervisory officers in villages to guide farmers from planting through harvesting to make sure all goes well and production can increase,” Mr Widodo said in the key rice-growing region of Pekalongan, Central Java, on Dec 13.

India ramped up restrictions on rice exports from late July to contain domestic prices ahead of elections in 2024, upending the market and fuelling higher inflation in major buyers including Indonesia. The El Nino weather pattern is threatening to become one of the most intense events in history, which will likely impact rice production across Asia from Thailand to Vietnam.

Earlier in December, Indonesia’s agriculture minister renewed a memorandum of understanding with the military chief to use idle lands owned by the armed forces for planting rice – a deal that was first signed in 2011. BLOOMBERG