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View all search resultsFood cartels threaten Prabowo's goal of food self-sufficiency
For years, a network of traders, importers, corrupt officials and political brokers have manipulated the supply and price of staple foods like rice, sugar, garlic, beef and cooking oil.
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Bags of rice are seen piled up at 'Koike rice shop' in Tokyo on Feb. 14, 2025. The Japanese government said it will release its stockpile of rice, the nation's cherished staple food, reserved for emergency use in response to soaring prices. (AFP/Yuichi Yamazaki)
T
he Golden Indonesia 2045 plan to achieve an advanced, prosperous and sovereign nation by 2045 is a challenge and demands a shared vision.
President Prabowo Subianto has outlined eight visions, known as Asta Cita, and 17 priority development programs, as milestones toward this goal.
Widespread support for Prabowo's second Asta Cita vision, achieving food, energy and water security, is understandable. Food is a basic human need, and a nutritious diet is essential for individual and nationwide health.
The saying "You are what you eat" holds true on a national scale.
As the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) noted in 2000, a country with over 100 million people cannot rely on food imports if it wants to develop into a prosperous nation.
Prabowo has repeatedly said that food security is a matter of sovereignty, with more than 285 million people to feed.
Founding president Sukarno made a similar point in 1957, saying that "food is a matter of life and death for a nation" in his speech at the opening ceremony of the School of Agriculture, University of Indonesia in Bogor, West Java, on April 27, 1957.
