We must always maintain our staple food production to always be available and in a surplus.
Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Agriculture Ministry has prepared a number of strategies to address the impact of the current global food crisis, which include increasing production, diversifying food, strengthening stocks, and modernizing the agriculture sector.

During a virtual discussion on “Handling the Threat of a Global Food Crisis” here on Tuesday, director of cereal at the ministry’s Directorate General of Food Crops, Ismail Wahab, said that the production of staple foods, especially rice, corn, and soybeans, needs to be increased.

“We must always maintain our staple food production to always be available and in a surplus," he remarked.

Earlier, President Joko Widodo said that Indonesia has been able to meet domestic rice demand without relying on imports for the last three consecutive years.

However, the country still needs to import corn and soybeans to meet domestic needs.

Hence, the government is trying to substitute imported corn with domestic production, the director said.

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Indonesia has not imported corn for animal feed in the past three years, he informed.

Furthermore, he said that the government has devised a road map for planting soybeans over up to 1.5 million hectares by 2026 to meet national demand without resorting to imports.

In addition, the food crisis must be prevented through diversification.

Wahab said that rice consumption per capita must be reduced and replaced with other staple food, such as cassava, sago, and sorghum, whose production is abundant in the country.

The next strategy is to increase food stocks and strengthen logistics. Indonesia must set up food granaries at the village, sub-district, district, city, province, and national levels, he said.

In addition, tool and human resources transformation in the agriculture sector is needed. Young farmers must be encouraged and prepared to replace old farmers, he said.

Young farmers are expected to optimize modern agriculture to increase production capacity as well as improve the quality of crops.

Meanwhile, chairman of the Center for Agricultural Food Studies and Advocacy (Pataka), Ali Usman, said that the government must collaborate with all stakeholders—state-run food companies as well as the private sector—to increase domestic food production.

Furthermore, it is important to carry out agricultural modernization and use superior seed varieties, he added.

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Translator: Aditya Ramadhan, Uyu Liman
Editor: Suharto
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