"The pandemic, coupled with the Russia-Ukraine war should make us aware of it. This situation has impacted the state of food security of each country significantly," Abdullah said in a written statement received here on Sunday.
According to him, Indonesia should no longer depend on the global food market when other countries were expediting efforts to improve their capability.
He believed that the current food issues, such as from stocks of soybeans, cooking oil, and wheat which experienced contraction, also put economic, socio-political situation at risk.
"The pandemic situation is getting worse with the chaos of (war between) Russia and Ukraine. We know that both countries are exporters of food and raw materials for fertilizers. The most recent report from the High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition, FAO in 2022 showed that at least 30 countries are impacted directly due to this war," he informed.
Apart from impacting the 30 countries, the war also drastically changed stock and price. The effects will be tangible to all importing countries, including Indonesia, which is one of the largest importers of wheat at global scope.
Thus he deemed it important for Indonesia to pursue the diversification of food production at the village to national level, in order to reduce dependency on the global food market, as well as the importance of building a more resilient and sovereign food system.
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He also pointed out the necessity of improving existing social protection system, especially in relation to food security, particularly for the lower socio-economic class, as well as increasing support for farmers to improve their living standards with a complete investment package.
Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati had called for the need to address the risk of food security crisis as a result of the Russia-Ukraine war. She delivered the appeal at the Tackling Food Insecurity event, which was part of the 2022 IMF-WBG Spring Meetings in Washington D.C., Tuesday, April 19,
She stated that the war and everything which entailed it were considered to have triggered an increase in the price of energy and food commodities.
Head of the Agricultural and Food Research Organization of the National Research and Innovation Agency Puji Lestari said that the G20 Indonesia presidency was an important opportunity to encourage international cooperation to build a sustainable world food security system.
"The goal of developing a sustainable food system is to create a world without hunger," she said in a written statement received here on Friday, April 8.
To create global food security in a sustainable manner, countries must work hand in hand to ensure trade and food distribution can run well in order to face the crisis.
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Translator: M Razi Rahman, Mecca Yumna
Editor: Suharto
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