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National Food Agency formed to oversee staple food policy
The agency assumes certain powers from the Trade Ministry, Agriculture Ministry and SOEs Ministry to address miscoordination between the three ministries.
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Farmers transport crops beside an ADB financed irrigation canal in Yogyakarta on Jan. 29, 2009. Irrigation is essential to quality farming. ADB has supported many irrigation and agricultural projects throughout Indonesia. (Courtesy of Asian Development Bank)
T
he government has established the National Food Agency (BPN) to help stabilize staple food supplies in Indonesia, but experts warn that shortcomings remain with the agency.
Presidential Regulation No. 66/2021, which came into effect on July 29, established the BPN to coordinate, formulate and implement policies related to food availability, prices, security, nutrition, diversification and safety. The BPN reports directly to the President.
The regulation limits the BPN’s authority to nine staple foods: rice, corn, soybeans, sugar, onions and shallots, eggs, poultry meat, bovine meat and chilies.
In executing its mandate, the BPN assumes certain powers from the State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) Ministry, Trade Ministry and Agriculture Ministry, and will replace the latter ministry’s Food Security Agency (BKP), which is to be disbanded.
Bogor Institute of Agriculture (IPB) professor Dwi Andreas Santosa, a former member of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s 2014 transition team, said the team had proposed establishing such an agency to address miscoordination between the three ministries.
“Those ministries are often pursuing their own indicators and goals, making the government fail to respond in time, as price has been on the rise and scarcity has hit many regions,” he told The Jakarta Post on Friday.
“So far, some of the concepts are in line with what we proposed,” he added.
