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RI to become an important food supplier
Given its abundant agricultural resources, Indonesia is well positioned to become one of the world's most important food suppliers in the coming years, Indonesian Vice President Boediono said here Wednesday
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iven its abundant agricultural resources, Indonesia is well positioned to become one of the world's most important food suppliers in the coming years, Indonesian Vice President Boediono said here Wednesday.
"The development of infrastructure, including in the agriculture sector, is a top priority in the government's plan.
"The government is ready to remove regulatory stumbling blocks that hinder investment in agribusiness," Boediono said at the end of a three-day World Summit on Food Security held at the Food and Agriculture Organization's (FAO) headquarters.
Attending world leaders have strived to work together to reverse the decline in domestic and international funding of agriculture, promote new investment in the sector, improve governance of global food issues in partnership with relevant stakeholders from the public and private sectors, and proactively face the challenges of climate change to food security.
"We need to improve our logistic system to optimize our vast geographic potential," Boediono said.
He recognized the basic problem of food security was to increase food supplies quickly and sustainably.
"The key is to accelerate investment in agricultural research, development and infrastructure."
The government has allocated Rp 33 trillion (US$1.9 billion) in subsidies for the agriculture sector this year.
Boediono said the global trade environment was a critical factor in sustaining global food production.
"We need international trade rules that are supportive of agricultural development in developing countries. It's a shame the Doha Round has now come to a standstill. We should work together for its reinstatement," he said.
The UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon called the current food crisis "a wake-up call for tomorrow".
"There can be no food security without climate security," he said, adding that if the glaciers on the Himalayas melted, it would affect the livelihood of 300 million people in China and up to a billion people in Asia.
FAO director-general Jacques Diouf stressed the need to produce food in countries that suffered from poverty and boost agricultural investment in those regions.
Diouf said that in some developed countries, 2 to 4 percent of the population were able to produce enough food to feed the entire nation and even to export, while in the majority of developing countries, 60 to 80 percent of the population were unable to meet the country's food requirements.
"Eliminating hunger requires US$44 billion in official development assistance per year be invested in infrastructure and technology.
"It is a small amount if we consider the $365 billion of agriculture producer support in OECD countries in 2007, and the $1,340 billion in world military expenditure in the same year," he said.
