JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com - The government is gearing up for international cooperation to strengthen food security as critics claim the country’s very high dependence upon food imports reflects the government’s failure to manage national food production and distribution.
Under the cooperation, the government aims to benefit from ASEAN+3 (Japan, South Korea, China) as well as to work closely with the United States, which has successfully safeguarded its food supplies.
"This cooperation will deal not only with emergency rice reserves, but also with the revitalization of the agricultural sector, irrigation networks and agricultural institutions. Our target is that we will no longer import (rice). But before Indonesia is convinced that it will have a rice stock of 10 million by 2014, the government still has another option," Deputy Agriculture Minister Rusman Heryawan said on Monday.
Also, the government will prepare three teams to put in place the cooperation. The first team will revitalize the agricultural sector, the second team will safeguard supplies and production chains and the third team will secure demand chains, particularly to protect the poor and vulnerable population when global food prices are on the increase, he said.
The three teams will become part of the crisis management protocols when a food crisis occurs, he noted. Officials noted that the widespread conversion of farm land to be used for other purposes has put a strain on food security.
Thousands of hectares of farm land have been cleared each year to make way for the construction of industrial estates and housing complexes. Data from the Directorate General of Land and Water Resources Management in 2005 reported that 187,720 hectares of rice fields, particularly on the most-populated Java island, were converted into other purposes each year.
Further, the Directorate of Land Use Management at the National Land Agency (BPN) has warned that if the existing spatial layout plan (RTRW) is not reviewed, only 4.2 million, or 57.6 percent of the irrigated rice fields which covers 7.3 million hectares, will continue to be used for agriculture. The remaining 3.01 million hectares, or 42.4 percent, will be under a threat of being converted for other uses.
On the other hand, demand for imported foods has been increasing, along with the rising middle-class in the world’s fourth most populous country, with a population of more than 240 million. Data show that in the first half of 2011, Indonesia spent US$5.36 billion on importing 11.33 million tons of various staple and other foods, including rice, maize, soybean, wheat, wheat flour, cow’s meat, refined sugar, oil palm kernel, cloves, cacao, milk, and eggs.
"This extraordinarily high import figure is the surface indicator of the government’s failure in managing national food production and distribution," National Commission for Human Rights (Komnas HAM) official M Ridha Saleh said at a press conference last Friday.
From a human rights perspective, food is one of man’s basic human rights which the state must fulfill. The right to food is closely related to other basic human rights, such as the rights to good health, employment, the environment and resources, he said.
Further, the International Convention on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights that was ratified by Indonesia through Law No 11/2005 clearly includes the right to food. But in reality, Ridha said, the fulfillment of the people’s right to food is still hampered by many serious problems in Indonesia.
The various problems that have remained unsolved include high dependence upon food imports, low domestic food production, the high price of foods, the public’s low purchasing power, fertilizer shortages, and conflicts over the conversion of farm lands.
The government’s policy to ease duties on imported foods is partly to blame for the country’s high dependence on food imports. In the first six months of 2011, the value of food imports reached more than Rp45 trillion, compared to less than Rp40 trillion in the same period the year before.
Almost all types of farm commodities, such as rice, red chili, onion, garlic, soybean, and cassava are imported, though the commodities can actually be produced at home, Secretary General of Indonesian Prosperous Farmers and Fishermen Association (PPNSI) Riyono said here on Sunday. He added that the government appeared to maintain import policies without taking much action or making breakthroughs in reducing the country’s dependence on imported foods.
To reduce the country’s dependence on food imports, the government could not merely overcome problems in the downstream sector, but also must begin to adopt policies which put food affairs on top of the list of national priorities. "The government has placed food as optional, rather than compulsory, as laid down in Government Regulation No. 38/2007. Article 1.4 of the government regulation stipulates that agriculture, fishery and forestry constitutes optional, and not compulsory affairs."
The regulation reflects that the government is not serious about handling the agricultural and fishery sectors as a pillar of national food security, he added. Therefore, he noted, the regulation should be revised and, if necessary, revoked, because it poses an obstacle to regional governments to develop the agricultural sector.
"If the government really makes the agricultural sector a priority, we will be able to meet domestic food needs on our own and create job opportunities in large numbers." However, the government allocates Rp16 trillion to the agricultural sector under the 2012 state budget, which reaches more than Rp1,000 trillion, he said.
"The budget allocations for national food security should be at least 30 percent, or Rp300 trillion," he believes. Ridha pointed out that Indonesia already has Law No 7/1996 on food, but the law does not include a clause on the government’s obligation to fulfill the people’s basic right to food.
"Of all things, it is this law that poses an obstacle in meeting the people’s basic right to food." After all, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has called on all parties to continue developing improved technology to strengthen national food security.
"The smart solution of increasing food production and productivity is in adapting technology, since we cannot keep clearing land," he said when opening a seminar and food exhibition entitled "Jakarta Food Security Summit: Feed Indonesia-- Feed the World 2012" on Tuesday, Feb 7.
Noting that technology-based innovation will provide optimal results, he expressed optimism that Indonesia can become self-reliant in food if food technology can be developed within five to 10 years. During a tour demonstrating the cultivation of catfish at Pudak Village in Jambi province on Friday, Feb 7, the head of state renewed his call for villagers across the country to participate in a movement to produce a wide range of foods to help assure the security of the nation¿s food supply.
"If all the villages participate in this movement, we can meet the nation’s need for food."
According to the President, the concept of catfish cultivation at Pudak Village, combined with plant cultivation, such as growing paddy, cucumber, squash, and chili, could be an example of the movement. He suggested that families plant these vegetables in their home gardens. "Let’s make it a national movement," Yudhoyono said.
