"A food ministry must soon be set up to coordinate decisions on food production and distribution in Indonesia," Chairman of the Indonesian Farmers Federation Henry Saragih said here on Wednesday.
The establishment of food ministry must also be intended to pay special attention to the poor in all parts of the country as well to those who have no access to food, he said.
As such, the people who had difficult access and have no accesses to foodstuffs would have adequate foodstuffs, he said.
In addition, the government should revive the central role of state logistic agency (Bulog) in accommodating and distributing food production, he said.
The farmers federation also urged the government to revitalize rural cooperatives to manage the marketing of farm products.
"Give farmers organizations a bigger role in planning and realizing activities related to the distribution and marketing of farm products," he said.
Earlier, Deputy Agriculture Minister Bayu Krishnamurti said that in macro terms, poverty was to blame for food scarcity. But micro wise, Indonesia had no problem with food security because it meets the target of millennium development goals in 2015.
(Uu.S012/H-NG/O001)
Editor: Priyambodo RH
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