We won`t need to import rice if wastage is avoided."Jakarta (ANTARA News) - A governments policy on importing food depends on the way its people eat and on whether it involves wastage, Vice President M. Jusuf Kalla said here on Thursday.
"If people consume their food without wastage, no food imports will be required," he stated while opening the Indonesian Environment and Forest Week 2015 at the Jakarta Convention Center.
"As much as 25 percent worlds food is not consumed. If food is not wasted, there will be no starvation in the world. We wont need to import rice if wastage is avoided," Kalla noted.
Citing an example of how to consume meals economically, Kalla pointed out that in our everyday lives, it would be good to eat the way they do in restaurants in Padang, West Sumatra.
It means that each citizen (in Padang) consumes portions of food appropriate for them, he remarked.
"So there is a calculation involved (in consumption of food). If everyone eats following Islamic guidelines, or those implemented in restaurants in Padang, the world will not starve. We are taught to eat without wasting food. In accordance with the principles followed in restaurants in Padang, we pay only for the meal eaten, while the rest is sold again," Kalla explained.
With regard to food imports, the vice president affirmed that the government believes it is not necessary to import food (rice) at present.
(Reported by Fransiska Ninditya/Uu.B003/INE/KR-BSR/H-YH)
Editor: Priyambodo RH
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