T

he United Nations (UN) has expressed favorable merit to Indonesia for its commitment to promote food and nutrition security, a crucial move to ensure a more prosperous future.

David Nabarro, a representative of the UN Secretary-General for Food and Nutrition, appreciated the commitments made by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and the administration regarding food and nutrition policies.

Speaking on behalf of the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Nabarro said the UN was delighted that Indonesia was one of the 33 countries taking part in the UN-initiated Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) movement.

“Indonesia is very important to this movement,” he said on the sidelines of a two-day food and nutrition workshop held by the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) that ended on Wednesday.

At the workshop, Nabarro talked about the UN secretary-general’s proposal for the elimination of hunger through the Zero Hunger Challenge.

“Everybody should have access to adequate food all year around,” he said.

Nabarro emphasized there should be no cases of stunted growth in children under two years of age.

“All food systems must be sustainable. Small holder productivity and income should be doubled and there should be no waste or lost of food,” he said regarding the initiative.

Nabarro said the challenge to eliminate hunger was the key to prosperity, security and equity in the future. “It is vital that we pursue this strategy,” he said.

The 10th Widyakarya Nasional Pangan dan Gizi (WNPG), a national meeting on food and nutrition held by the LIPI once every four years, creates a platform where stakeholders can develop concrete solutions to food security. The two-day workshop and exhibition gave visitors the opportunity to share knowledge as well as explore the potential of locally grown food showcased at the exhibition.

LIPI chairman Lukman Hakim said that despite sufficient national level food stocks, Indonesia still faces food insecurity at the regional, household and individual levels. “This problem concerns the absence of sufficient quantities of food to meet the daily basic needs of people in the country and their limited access to food resources as well,” Lukman said.

Data showed that demand for rice, the country’s staple food, reached 139 kilograms per capita per year. Such a heavy dependency has serious consequences — not only on food security but also health. While still facing high cases of children under five suffering from malnourishment, Indonesia is also plagued by over-nutrition as a growing problem.

Currently, 14.2 percent of children under five suffer from over-nutrition and obesity. In the adult age group, the prevalence of people with over-nutrition has reached 21 percent, increasing risks of non-communicable diseases.