Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The government is set to form a national food security board as part of the efforts to ensure food security, which is high on the list of President Joko Widodos development priorities.

Towards this end, Administrative and Bureaucratic Reforms Minister Yuddy Chrisnandi and Agriculture Minister Amran Sulaiman held a meeting at the Agriculture Ministry here on Wednesday.

"We will soon form a special team involving the Administrative and Bureaucratic Reform Ministry and the Agriculture Ministry to make preparations for the creation of the national food security board," Yuddy Chrisnandi said following a closed-door meeting held with the agriculture minister.

As far as the national food security board is concerned, the team will propose two alternatives, he said.

The first alternative is that if a non-ministerial institution is needed, priority can be given to an existing food body which will be under the purview of the agriculture ministry or under an independent institution, he said.

The second alternative is to give greater authority to the agriculture minister to concurrently hold the post of the chairman of the national food security board, particularly to coordinate agencies when it comes to food products, and drafting a roadmap for self-reliance in food production, he said.

The two alternatives will be discussed by the end of this year, he said.

"We will convey the two alternatives to the President for a decision regarding the food security board," he said.(*)

Editor: Heru Purwanto
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