As an economist, I have been taught to calculate everything based on the most effective cost; everything in life should be low on cost, and diversity is valued at a high cost
span>As an economist, I have been taught to calculate everything based on the most effective cost; everything in life should be low on cost, and diversity is valued at a high cost.
In 1965, Indonesia experienced an economic and political crisis resulting in high inflation and soaring food prices. Thus, the economists sought to control inflation by controlling rice prices.
As a result of inflation money lost its value, so a policy was made for civil servants to receive payment partly in rice rations throughout Indonesia, except for eastern Indonesia, such as Papua and Maluku, where they ate sago. They were given sago in place of rice.
Leaders in eastern Indonesia protested the perceived discrimination. Therefore, a policy of national rice acquisition was born. Policies were pushed to increase rice production and distribution, development and selection of seeds and fertilizers, all for the sake of rice.
Rice became akin to God and led Indonesia to rice self-sufficiency in 1986, for which the United Nation’s Food and Agricultural Organization gave Indonesia a standing ovation.
However, experts criticized the rice policy. Other crops that were sources of food were disappearing amid the abundant paddy fields. However, for the economists, food development by specializing in rice was considered correct. At that time I didn’t know the meaning of biodiversity or the environment.
In 1972, I attended the 1972 UN Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm. Everyone was saying the environment needed to be protected. I couldn’t stop thinking about the fate of food development, which needed land, if deforestation stopped.
But then India’s prime minister Indira Gandhi stated the environment was needed to eradicate poverty. She cited water, sanitation and nutrition, among other things. I was intrigued as she talked about the poverty of her country through the language of the environment.
Back in Jakarta, as transportation minister, I realized how Java and Sumatra were different from Sulawesi and Papua, as the Wallace Line marks the distinct ecozones of western and eastern Indonesia. I realized Indonesia was diverse, bhinneka. I became increasingly aware that uniformity is incompatible with Indonesia. Indonesia has the power of diversity, kebhinekaan. Uniformity is not right for Indonesia.
In 1978, as environment minister, I increasingly realized that diversity was key to life, not uniformity or specialization. Apparently, economic development that prioritized rice at the time was incorrect. But I only believed that after decades of conventional economics.
My valuable lesson has been that environmentalists and biodiversity experts are not familiar with the language of economics. It is similarly difficult to explain to economists that diversification is important.
The challenge is how to convince ministers that infrastructure is not only for humans but also for animals and their ecosystems. How to convince President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo that the construction of the Sumatra toll road should not obstruct the routes of the Sumatran elephant and rhino migration or their habitats?
Can we excel in food security by maintaining our biodiversity? Can we increase production of the famed Cianjur rice while increasing the variety of food sources like bananas, sweet potatoes, sago, sorghum, cassava and corn? Can Indonesia be developed based on biodiversity?
My heart is restless. I’ve talked to the ministries of agriculture, industry, trade. There is no understanding of biodiversity, of developing Indonesia by mainstreaming biodiversity. Apparently, it is still a long struggle to improve the mindset of regulators.
World Food Day is celebrated every Oct. 16 with this year’s tagline of “Our actions are our future, healthy diets, #zerohungerworld 2030”. The national theme is “Agricultural and food industry technology toward Indonesia as world granary in 2045”. Thus agricultural and food development will be driven through industrial technology to make Indonesia the world’s granary.
This ambitious goal is quite achievable if accompanied by proper agricultural and food governance. A combination of regulations that favors farmers, increases the potential added value of various food sources, sustainable technology and accountable governance can answer the challenge.
Statistics Indonesia (BPS) reports that rice is Indonesians’ biggest source of carbohydrates, surpassing that of Malaysians and Japanese. Truth be told, our other local food sources are plentiful, supported by adequate national and regional regulations. Local carbohydrate food consumption (other than rice) has been implemented in, for example, Banyuwangi in East Java, Sangihe in North Sulawesi, Sumbawa in West Nusa Tenggara, and East Flores in East Nusa Tenggara.
It is time for other regions to follow this initiative, so we can achieve the goal of Indonesia becoming a world granary in 25 years.
Our biodiversity foundation Yayasan Keanekaragaman Hayati Indonesia (KEHATI) has developed 10 proposals for improving agricultural governance, so that future governments can prioritize food diversity that is more efficient and effective in overcoming hunger and turning Indonesia into the world’s granary, namely:
1. Restore the concept of Nusantara food (based on traditions in the Indonesian archipelago), derived from the diversity of biological resources and local culture;
2. Mainstream Nusantara food into national programs;
3. Incorporate national food diversity into the National Medium-Term Development Plan, national priority programs and the national budgeting system;
4. Set a national target of reducing rice consumption as a source of carbohydrates and replacing it with other Nusantara food varieties;
5. Integrate food policies with policies on health, biodiversity and climate change, in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals, specifically zero hunger;
6. Realize community food reserves in line with Article 33 of the Food Law, in which the community has the broadest possible rights and opportunities in creating such reserves;
7. Establish mechanisms for providing incentives, including awards, to local governments and food-conservation activists;
8. Speed up consumption of Nusantara food as a government priority according to the Food Law through a consumers’ movement with a culinary and cultural approach;
9. Build a conducive ecosystem to encourage young farmers in developing Nusantara food;
10. Strengthen seed-development initiatives originating from Indonesia’s biodiversity toward Indonesian seed and food sovereignty, by protecting the rights of conservationists, seed farmers and indigenous peoples.
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Founder of Yayasan Keanekaragaman Hayati Indonesia (KEHATI), former presidential adviser, former minister in various Cabinets since the late 1960s, including in charge of development planning, transportation and environment.
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