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s one of the major producers of agricultural commodities, Indonesia is currently facing the dynamics of agricultural development. The UN'€™s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) conferred last week an award on Indonesia due to its success in reducing poverty and the proportion of hungry people, in addition to increasing food production. At the same time, the country is dealing with several agricultural issues, including farmer'€™s rights, food sovereignty and sustainable agriculture.

Accordingly, the FAO found that Indonesia'€™s agriculture production has grown consistently according to its recent Production Index Number (PIN) by 109.47 in 2008, 114.1 in 2009, 113.76 in 2010, and 116.57 in 2011. Along with the growth, the percentage of poverty in rural areas also fell from 3.4 percent in 2008 to 3.1 percent in 2009, 2.8 percent in 2010, 2.6 percent in 2011 and 2.4 percent in 2012, according to a World Bank report.      

Findings have indeed proven that Indonesia has strived to achieve better conditions for its agriculture. It is basically consistent with the policy, namely Strategic Planning (Renstra) of the Agriculture Ministry 2010-2014, which comprises four goals: (1) to achieve sustainable food self-sufficiency, (2) to increase food diversification, (3) to enhance added value, export and competitiveness, as well as (4) to improve workers'€™ welfare.

Nevertheless, a lot of challenges remain to meet the policy'€™s purposes. The rights of farmers, food sovereignty and sustainable agricultural development remain the major issues that need attention. At the sixth summit of the La Via Campesina (LVC) pro-farmer group in Jakarta, various global agricultural issues including land reform, violence against women, trade liberalization, food sovereignty and climate change were on the table. (The Jakarta Post, June 11).

There is no doubt that farmers'€™ rights are fundamental to boost agricultural growth. Farm workers are the core actors who inherently have production capacity, which is necessary to ensure food security and food supply. Ironically, the workers suffer from food crisis and fragile economic conditions as a result of the deprivation of their rights.

Violations against farmers'€™ rights have been rampant across the archipelago. Findings reveal that more than 600 cases of land conflicts claimed 22 lives and injured hundreds of other in 2011. The National Commission on Human Rights reported more than 5,000 human rights violations that were related to deforestation by corporations in 2012.

'€œThe deaths of farmers as a result of agrarian conflicts are increasing,'€ said Henry Saragih, founder of the Indonesian Peasant Union (SPI).

To meet food self-sufficiency food sovereignty is imperative. The crisis occurring nowadays is particularly caused by mismanagement of food production and distribution, which then impacts on food scarcity, leading to skyrocketing prices and imports. According to SPI, the phenomena are the consequences of the privatization, liberalization and deregulation policy.

Sustainable agricultural development has become a national and international challenge due to its link to climate change. Agriculture Minister Suswono affirmed three major challenges on this issue: less farmland, competition for water access and climate change impact.

In the UNESCAP conference 2011 concerning sustainable agriculture for food security and poverty reduction, however, the minister insisted that strengthened comprehensive agriculture regulations as well as international efforts would be necessary to secure environmental sustainability.

It is obvious that the problems are manifold. It is also imperative to execute the comprehensive policy that has been prescribed through Renstra 2010-2014. Thus, such problems turn out to be the challenge for the national policy, in order to achieve the set goals.

In terms of violations against farm workers'€™ rights, the government focuses on the increasing income for farmers. To that extent, the Agriculture Ministry set the alternatives, which include subsidy for fertilizer, land reform, price stabilization and limited protectionism to certain imported products. Nonetheless, the policy requires a more rigorous approach in order to address land conflict issues.

Meanwhile, the government is keen on accelerating agricultural production to address food self-sufficiency. However, the necessary measures to increase production are  likely on an operational and technical basis, such as developing agricultural infrastructure, extending the harvest land and preparing for mitigation and adaptation to climate change.

Primarily on the climate change issue, the Renstra offers programs to identify vulnerable land, set guidelines and build technology, aiming to strengthen capacity for dealing with climate change.

To some extent, Indonesia has indeed made some progress in promoting agricultural development, despite the obstacles. Nevertheless, the government is not dismissive toward the challenges involved in attaining the optimistic goals and the set programs prescribed within the Renstra.

The phenomena show that agriculture is important to fulfill society needs and help reduce the poverty rate.  Furthermore, agriculture plays a role as the country'€™s main commodity. Therefore, it is better for the government and relevant stakeholders to prove their commitment to this particular field so that the symbolic appreciation from the world community will not lead to unnecessary rhetoric.

The writer is a researcher at international relations department, Parahyangan Catholic University, Bandung.