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Rice: Growing for a sustainable future
It is important that we do not get lost in the debate around whether Indonesia needs to import its rice and instead remain focused on those who are producing it domestically.
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Balinese farmers at a rice terrace in Jatiluwih village in Tabanan regency in Bali. (AFP/Sonny Tumbelaka)
I
t is important that we do not get lost in the debate around whether Indonesia needs to import its rice and instead remain focused on those who are producing it domestically. After all, Indonesia is one of the world’s biggest rice consumers, feeding more than 260 million people.
However growing rice is not easy and these farmers will face many challenges
But there is more to this than just the necessity to feed millions of people in Indonesia. With the rising population, continued surge in the growth of cities, climate change, scarcity of natural resources, and a growing middle class, rice supply and food security is increasingly being compromised.
Indonesia is the largest economy in the ASEAN region with gross domestic product (GDP) of US$1 trillion and real GDP growth of 4.9 percent year-on-year, of which 14 percent is from agriculture.
