The jobs law abolishes the 30 percent cap on FDI in horticultural seed development by amending the 2010 Horticulture Law, which has constricted Indonesia’s agriculture since 2015.

Unfortunately, there is great uncertainty about the liberalization of FDI. Several narrow-minded farming and civil-society organizations will surely challenge the amendment at the Constitutional Court, and they may likely win because the same court turned down a petition for judicial review advocating for the repeal of the same FDI restriction filed by the Association of Horticultural Seed Producers in early 2015.

But such an imbroglio in the seed development industry would hinder the growth of horticulture, which has been playing an increasingly important role in providing main staple foods and export commodities.

Look at how we have been importing billions of dollars worth of horticulture products annually, while countries such as Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines, which welcome FDI in the horticultural seed business have seen significant earnings from horticultural exports.

The seed development industry, which is a highly knowledge-based business, is key to agricultural development because high-quality seeds, in addition to appropriate fertilizer, pesticides and the best farm practices, determine the productivity of crops.

Ideally, we should develop a strong national foundation for our own seed breeding industry, but this process cannot be achieved by simply forcing foreign investors to divest their controlling ownership in seed businesses.

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