Agriculture in Indonesia is one of the key sectors within the Indonesian economy. In the last 50 years, the sector's share in national gross domestic product has decreased considerably, due to the rise of industrialisation and service sector. Nevertheless, for the majority of Indonesian households, farming and plantation remains as a vital income generator. In 2013, the agricultural sector contributed 14.43% to national GDP, a slight decline from 2003's contribution which was 15.19%. In 2012, the agricultural sector provides jobs to approximately 49 million Indonesians, representing 41% of the country's total labor force.
Currently, approximately 30% of Indonesia's land area is used for agriculture. Indonesian agriculture sector is supervised and regulated by the Indonesian Ministry of Agriculture.
The agricultural sector of Indonesia consists of:
Large plantations, either owned by state or private companies; Smallholder production modes, mostly family owned and run by traditional agricultural households.
Industrial scale export commodities such as palm oil and rubber, are mainly supplied by large plantations, while the small scale farmers focus on horticultural commodities such as rice, corn, soybeans, Mango, fruits and vegetables in order to meet the food consumption of the local and regional population. At present, Indonesia is also the world's largest producer of palm oil, cloves, and cinnamon, the 2nd largest producer of nutmeg natural rubber cassava vanilla and coconut oil, the 3rd largest producer of rice and cocoa, the 4th largest producer of coffee. the 5th largest tobacco producer. and the 6th largest producer of tea.
Large scale export of crops like palm oil, biomass and rubber has lead to a number of environmental conflicts as large scale production both displaces smallholders and causes environmental degradation through deforestation. Forestry and energy crops have increased in recent years as global demand for bioenergy, through an increase in pellet fuel and wood chips for export.
History In Indonesian history, agricultural pursuits spanned for some millennia with some traces still observable in some parts of the archipelago. The hunter-gatherer society still exist in interior Kalimantan (Indonesian Borneo) and Papua (Indonesian New Guinea) such as the Kombai people, while they were a sophisticated rice-cultivating community, the remnants of Hindu-Buddhist polity can still be observed in Bali through their subak irrigation system.
Ancient era
Agriculture in Indonesia started as a means to grow and provide food. Rice, coconut, sugar palm, taro, tubers, shallots and tropical fruits were among the earliest produce being cultivated in the archipelago. Evidence of wild rice cultivation on the island of Sulawesi dates back from 3000 BCE. Rice has been a staple food for Indonesians for a millennium and holds a central place in Indonesian culture and cuisine.
The importance of rice in Indonesian culture is demonstrated through the reverence of Dewi Sri, the rice goddess of ancient Java and Bali. Traditionally, the agricultural cycles linked to rice cultivation were celebrated through rituals, such as Sundanese Seren Taun or the "rice harvest festival." In Bali, the traditional subak irrigation system was created to ensure that there is adequate water supply for rice paddies. The irrigation system was managed by priests and created around "water temples". Indonesian vernacular architecture also recognizes numbers of lumbung or rice barns styles, such as Sundanese leuit, Sasak style rice barn, Toraja's tongkonan shape, to Minangkabau's rangkiang. Rice-growing shapes the landscape, is sold at markets, and is served in most meals.
While some panels of the bas-reliefs on temple walls, such as Borobudur and Prambanan, describe agricultural activities, Javanese stone inscriptions which can be traced back from the 8th century, describes the king placing a levy on rice. Next to rice, the bas-reliefs of Borobudur describe other indigenous agricultural products as well, like banana (musa paradisiaca), coconut (Cocos nucifera), sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum'), Java apple (Syzygium samarangense), jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus), durian (Durio zibethinus) and mangosteen (Mangifera indica).
Local kingdoms in Indonesia were among the earliest polities to participate in global spice trade. The ancient maritime empires of Srivijaya (7th to 11th century) and Majapahit (13th to 15th century) for example, were actively involved in spice trade with China, India and the Middle East. Ports of Sunda and Banten were important centers of pepper trade back in the 14th to 17th centuries.
Colonial era
Certain endemic Indonesian spices such as nutmeg which is indigenous to the Banda Islands and cloves were highly sought in the West, and prompted the European Age of Exploration. The Portuguese were the earliest Europeans who established their presence in the archipelago by the early 16th century. The Portuguese, through Spanish intermediaries, introduced the New World's products such as chili pepper, maize, papaya, peanuts, potato, tomato, rubber and tobacco into the archipelago's soil.
The surge of the global spice trade was what led European traders reach the Indonesian archipelago who were in search for direct sources of valuable spices, at the same time, cut through middlemen in Asia (Arabs and Indian merchants) and in Europe (Italian merchants). By the early 17th century, Dutch East India Company (VOC) began to establish its influence within the archipelago, by building trading offices, warehouses and forts in Amboina and Batavia. By then, VOC monopolized the spice commodity trade, especially pepper and nutmeg, and actively pursued its shares in intra-Asian trades with India and China. VOC further established sugar plantations in Java.
By the turn of the 19th century, VOC was declared bankrupt and was nationalized by the Dutch as Dutch East Indies. This event officially marked the Dutch colonial period in the archipelago. In the mid-19th century, the Dutch East Indies government implemented cultuurstelsel which required a portion of agricultural production lands to be devoted to export crops. The cultivation system was enforced in Java and other parts of Indonesia by the Dutch colonial government between 1830 and 1870. Indonesian historians refer to it as Tanam Paksa ("Enforcement Planting"). The Dutch introduced numbers of cash crops and commodities to create and establish an economic engine in its colony. Establishment of sugarcane, coffee, tea, tobacco, quinine, rubber and palm oil plantations was also expanded in the colony.
During the Dutch East Indies era, the agriculture sector was regulated by the Departement van Landbouw (1905), Departement van Landbouw, Nijverheid en Handel (1911) and Departement van Ekonomische Zaken (1934).
Republic era In 1942, Dutch East Indies fell under the control of the Japanese Empire. During the Japanese occupation, the agriculture sector was overseen by the Gunseikanbu Sangyobu. During World War II (1942–1945), the Indies experienced hardships which included agricultural scarcity and famine. Rice yields and plantation commodities were controlled by the Japanese empire's military authority. The plantation business which was a major economic sector, was relatively shut down during the Pacific War and the ensuing Indonesian War of Independence (1945–1949). All efforts in the agricultural sector was focused in meeting basic needs for food (rice) and clothing (cotton). The Imperial Japanese authority attempted to increase rice and cotton production in the occupied Indies by mobilizing labor. However, scarcity of these essential commodities prevailed and resulted to famine and clothing shortage.
The Indonesian Republic declared its independence on 17 August 1945. Indonesia became a member of United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in 1948. The partnership was strengthened with the opening of a FAO country office in 1978. The agriculture sector of the republic has been supervised and regulated by the Indonesian Ministry of Agriculture. The Indonesian Republic also nationalized many of its colonial economic infrastructures, institutions and businesses and inherited the agricultural system of its predecessor, the Dutch East Indies.
In the 1960s until the 1980s, the republic made every effort to develop a post-war agricultural sector and led to the sector's significant expansion. During the Suharto era, the government launched the transmigration program that relocated landless farmers from the overpopulated Java to the less populated Sumatra, Kalimantan, Sulawesi and Papua, thus expanded agricultural farms in the outer islands of the territory.
The most significant indicator of growth is the expansion of palm oil plantations, which became the new form of transmigration program. Currently, Indonesia is the world's largest producer of palm oil and the leading producer of coffee, rubber and cocoa. However, Indonesia still has vast tracts of idle lands which can potentially be developed into farmlands. These cover 40 million hectares of degraded forest areas that have turned into grasslands after being abandoned by logging concessionaires.
Agricultural commodities are known for its economic resilience and are among the first to recover from the impacts of global financial meltdown. With a large number of its population still working in the agriculture segment, Indonesia has great potentials of attracting foreign investments.
Production Indonesia produced in 2025:
250 million tons of palm oil (largest producer in the world);IPOSS Indonesia FFB Output by Palmoilmagazine 71.95 million tons of rice (4th largest producer in the world);Badan Pusat Statistik 2025 16.16 million tons of maize (12th largest producer in the world);BPS-Statistics Indonesia 39.07 million tons of sugar cane (9th largest producer in the world);Ministry of Agriculture Indonesia 17.5 million tons of coconut (largest producer in the world);Indonesia Coconut Export Trends 2025–2026 17.2 million tons of cassava (6th largest producer in the world);Top 10 Cassava Producing Countries in 2025 9.82 million tons of banana (3rd largest producer in the world);Badan Pusat Statistik 2025 2.04 million tons of natural rubber (2nd largest producer in the world, just behind Thailand);Yushengmax 3.20 million tons of pineapple (largest producer in the world);Badan Pusat Statistik 2025 4.13 million tons of mango (including mangosteen and guava) (4th largest producer in the world, only behind India, China and Thailand); 3.08 million tons of chili pepper (4th largest producer in the world, behind China, Mexico and Turkey); 2.5 million tons of orange (8th largest producer in the world); 2.18 million tons of onion (4th largest producer in the world); 1.45 million tons of sweet potato (7th largest producer in the world); 1.4 million tons of cabbage; 1.23 million tons of tomatoes; 1.2 million tonnes of potato; 1.1 million tons of papaya (5th largest producer in the world, only behind India, Brazil, Mexico and Dominican Republic); 722 thousand tons of coffee (3rd largest producer in the world, behind Brazil and Vietnam); 760 thousand tons of avocado (4th largest producer in the world, only behind Mexico, Dominican Republic and Peru); 410 thousand tons of beans; 350 thousand tons of soy; 280 thousand tons of cocoa; In addition to smaller productions of other agricultural products, such as leeks (610 thousand tons), eggplant (680 thousand tons), cucumber (470 thousand tons), ginger (169 thousand tons), cashew nuts (110 thousand tons, 10th largest producer in the world), cloves (135 thousand tons), areca nut (142 thousand tonnes), kapok fruit (26 thousand tons), tea (124 thousand tons), tobacco (256 thousand tons, 5th largest producer in the world) etc.Badan Pusat Statistik 2025
Food products