SBY urges public effort to avert food crisis

President Susilo Bambang Yu-dhoyono has called on all citizens to work together to increase domestic food production, emphasizing that food shortages have been a global issue and that Indonesia is not an exception.

“We must work hard to increase [the production of] our main food staple which is rice. The government and local administrations must work together while the people must take part. Do what you can do. Food is now the world’s problem, our problem,” he said at the Presidential Palace on Tuesday.

“The government will continue to work hard to increase food production, especially rice, through research and development, and allocate bigger funds for the purpose.”

Yudhoyono said Indonesia should not stay still and end up as a victim of a potential world food crisis.

“The need for food supply has increased but production has often been disturbed by the weather.

Today, the world’s population is 7 billion and will be 9 billion by 2045, meaning food production must be increased by 70 percent,” he said during a ceremony to hand over the Adhikarya Pangan Nusantara awards for food resilience efforts.

“We know that to maintain and increase food security, farmlands must be made available. Harvest results should also be increased by using good seeds, innovation, fertilizers, distribution and farmers’ technical abilities.

“We realize that food prices are fluctuating as a result of world prices but we must maintain food price stability without reducing farmers’ income,” the President said.

The government has issued several policies related to domestic food productivity, including Presidential Instruction No. 5/2011 on rice production security and Government Regulation No. 41/2007 on Food Security.

“The regulations must be applied by local administrations,” Yudhoyono said.

The President presented the Adhikarya Pangan Nusantara awards to 61 institutions and individuals for contributing to food security.

The awards are divided into four categorizes: food security pioneers, food security services, creative
technology users and food security advisers.

Yogyakarta Governor Sultan Hamengku Buwono X, Riau Governor Rusli Zainal, Central Java Governor Bibit Waluyo and Temanggung Regent Hasyim Afandi were among those who received the Food Security Advisors award.

The food security service awards were given to 13 people and institutions, including Mulyono from Grobogan, Central Java; and Sugi Wanarsih from Sleman, Yogyakarta.

Agriculture Minister Suswono said the awards were expected to encourage the administrations and the people to intensify their efforts to maintain food security in their areas.

He said the government would issue two regulations related to food and farmers.

“The agriculture ministry has listed some problems which will be included in the draft of the food law and the draft of the farmer protection and empowerment law. I can’t talk about the substances of the laws because it they are still an ongoing process. Hopefully by the end of this month the laws will be conveyed to the public,” he said, adding that the process of making the laws involved several ministers and experts.

Indonesia has targeted to produce 70 million tons of rice this year. The country had produced 67 million tons of husked rice (GKG) as of the end of last month, which is a similar amount to last year’s total production.

The Agriculture Ministry had blamed this year’s lower-than-forecast production on severe droughts, high fertilizer prices and seed scarcity, all of which have led to crop failures.

“Besides, the budget policy is also still overlapping. For example, the decision on seeds and fertilizers were announced in October and November but the budget distribution takes place in January the next year,” Deputy Agriculture Minister Rusman Heriawan said.

Farmers have voiced their demand for the acceleration of agrarian reforms, including land redistribution and for the implementation of policies supporting a sustainable agriculture model and investment for small-scale farmers in rural areas.

As of October 2010, the government had redistributed 200 hectares of land, while the National Land Agency (BPN) says there are 7.3 million hectares of unclaimed state land ready to be redistributed.

The Agrarian Renewal Consortium (KPA) says of the 28 million farmer households in Indonesia, 6.1 million in Java do not own any land; and another 5 million outside of Java do not own land while the farmers that own land own on average just 0.36 hectares.