On Aug. 9, Indonesia’s Ministry of Agriculture said the country is ready with a number of strategies to deal with the impact of the current global food crisis. These include: increasing food production, food diversification, increasing food reserves and promoting modern agriculture development.
Speaking at a webinar titled “Coping with the Global Food Crisis,” the Director General of Food Crops of Indonesia’s Food Division said Indonesia will increase production of key grains, especially rice, corn and soybeans, to ensure food sufficiency.
In addition to increasing production, Indonesia needs to prevent a food crisis through crop diversification. Mr. Wahab believes that per capita rice consumption also needs to be reduced while using other staple grains such as cassava, sago, and millet, which are abundantly produced domestically in Indonesia, as substitutes.
The next step in Indonesia’s strategy is to increase the amount of food reserves and strengthen logistics. Accordingly, Indonesia will establish food reserves at different levels and tiers such as village, district, provincial and national levels.
In addition, Indonesia needs to transform production tools and human resources in the agricultural sector. In particular, young farmers must be encouraged to be ready to replace older farmers. The younger generation of farmers is expected to drive the development of modern agriculture, increase production capacity and improve crop quality.
Attending the workshop, the Indonesian Center for Agri-Food Research and Advocacy said the Indonesian government needs to work with all stakeholders, including state-owned and private food companies, to increase domestic food production. In addition, this expert believes that it is necessary and very important for Indonesia to promote modern agriculture development and the use of quality seeds.