House factions express concern over food security<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Factions at the House of Representatives
\nexpressed concern yesterday over the volatility of Indonesia's
\nfood security and called on the government to prevent further
\nconversion of agricultural lands for non-agricultural use.<\/p>\n
Spokesman Djuwardi Effendi from the Indonesian Democratic
\nParty (PDI) and spokesman Saleh Khalid from the United
\nDevelopment Party (PPP) said during a House plenary session that
\nthe government should try harder to maintain Indonesia's food
\nsecurity.<\/p>\n
The two parties were particularly concerned about the
\nsituation of Indonesia's rice production, which is the staple
\nfood for most of the country's 195 million people.<\/p>\n
The spokesmen voiced their concern during the preliminary
\nsession deliberating the government-sponsored food bill, which
\nwas attended by Minister of Food Ibrahim Hasan.<\/p>\n
Djuwardi acknowledged that maintaining self-sufficiency in
\nrice for 12 years was a difficult task.<\/p>\n
The reason for this, he said, was not only because of an
\nincrease in population, but also because the government had
\nallowed extensive conversion of agricultural lands for non-
\nagricultural purposes.<\/p>\n
Government offices, he said, also failed to carry out sound
\ncoordination -- particularly during harvest seasons -- leaving
\nfarmers vulnerable to middlemen.<\/p>\n
Djuwardi also blamed faulty weather predictions and shortages
\nof rice seedlings and fertilizers during planting seasons, which,
\nin turn, forced farmers to buy them at extremely high prices.<\/p>\n
\"Apart from that, village cooperatives, which have the
\nresponsibility of purchasing harvests from farmers, often fail to
\nprovide funding on time. Since farmers need cash urgently, they
\nturn to middlemen who buy their rice at very low prices,\" he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Indonesia was the biggest rice importer in the world before it
\ngained self-sufficiency in 1983. In 1994 and 1995, however,
\nunfavorable weather and diseases forced the country to rely
\npartly on imports.<\/p>\n
Djuwardi said Indonesia currently requires 26 million tons of
\nrice a year. But domestic production in the last three years
\nfailed to meet this demand.<\/p>\n
In 1994, he said, Indonesia imported 2.4 million tons of rice
\nand in 1995, another 2.9 million tons.<\/p>\n
\"When we speak of food security, we must never disregard
\nfarmers, who actually play the biggest role in providing rice,\"
\nhe said.<\/p>\n
Similarly, PPP spokesman Saleh said that the government did
\nnot pay enough attention to the well-being of farmers.<\/p>\n
\"Instead, the government has allowed farmers to be thrown out
\nof their own land by large-scale industrial, housing and other
\nnon-agricultural projects. The farmers are forced to work as
\nlaborers in their own fields,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Saleh said the rice shortage that occurred in the last couple
\nof years was a \"bad sign\" for the future of the country's food
\nstock.<\/p>\n
Since Indonesia achieved self-sufficiency in rice in 1993, he
\nsaid, agricultural land has declined from 16.7 million hectares
\nto 15.9 million hectares.<\/p>\n
\"The loss on Java alone reached 0.9 million hectares, but this
\nwas offset by the opening of 0.1 million hectares of agricultural
\nland outside Java,\" he said.<\/p>\n
In 1983, agricultural land in Java totaled 5.5 million
\nhectares but in 1993, only 4.6 million hectares were left.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, during the same period, agricultural land outside
\nJava increased from 11.2 million hectares to 11.3 million
\nhectares.<\/p>\n
The PPP faction said the small credit allocation of banks for
\nagricultural projects also showed how neglected the sector was.<\/p>\n
In the 1990-1994 period, the agricultural sector obtained 7.6
\npercent of the credit allocated by banks. The industrial, trade
\nand services sectors obtained 31.2 percent, 23.8 percent and 25.5
\npercent respectively, Saleh said. (pwn)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/house-factions-express-concern-over-food-security-1447893297",
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