Jakarta (ANTARA) - The National Food Agency (Bapanas) is seeking to improve people's diets to be varied, balanced, and safe in a bid to materialize national food security.

Bapanas Head Arief Prasetyo Adi stated here on Friday that varied diets are one of the entry points to strengthening national food security.

According to the agency head, efforts to materialize food security do not stop at endeavors to ensure food availability and stability but also encompass improving the quality of people's diets that is measured by the Desirable Dietary Patterns (DDP) score.

"Thus, the DDP score, as a benchmark in viewing the food consumption situation, is important," he remarked.

Adi explained that in 2023, Bapanas had made maximum efforts to achieve the national DDP score target in accordance with the National Medium-Term Development Plan (RPJMN).

Adi noted that his agency has set the DDP score target for 2024 at 95.2 from an ideal DDP score of 100.

Meanwhile, Acting Main Secretary of Bapanas Sarwo Edhy stated that the DDP score in 2023 stood at 94.1, surpassing the target of 94.

He further noted that the score in 2023 is higher than the DDP score of 92.9 in 2022. He believes this is evidence of Bapanas' commitment to encouraging people to consume a varied, balanced, and safe diet.

"This is in line with President Joko Widodo's direction to continue to encourage food diversification," Edhy stated.

He said Bapanas continues to ensure that the community has sufficient, equitable, and affordable access to food through various efforts, such as food assistance and dissemination of information on varied, balanced, and safe diets to students, women, and communities.

"The ultimate goal that is aimed to be achieved is that every individual can have sufficient, varied, nutritionally balanced, and safe food, so that they can live healthily, actively, and productively," he remarked.

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Translator: Muhammad Harianto, Raka Adji
Editor: Azis Kurmala
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