Food policy debates over the last four years in Indonesia have been well-dominated by staple food fundamentalism, as the government has allocated over Rp 23 trillion (US$1.58 billion) of state budget in 2018 to boost the production of rice, maize and soybean, known by its Indonesian acronym as Pajale. 

This article shows that the economics of horticulture are equally important as in “traditional” staple foods, since middle-income consumers and the urban population have increased significantly.

In 2025, the urban population is estimated to reach 60 percent of the total population of 284 million. Urban consumers in Indonesia spent 16 percent of their budget on rice, 15 percent on fruit and vegetables and 22 percent on animal protein (meat, fish, eggs and dairy). Rural consumers spent 24 percent on rice, 17 percent on fruit and vegetables and 2...

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