{
    "success": true,
    "data": {
        "id": 1920561,
        "msgid": "house-member-pushes-cassava-as-wheat-substitute-to-strengthen-self-sufficiency-1786726504",
        "date": "2026-08-14 23:23:28",
        "title": "House Member Pushes Cassava as Wheat Substitute to Strengthen Self-Sufficiency",
        "author": "",
        "source": "ANTARA_ID",
        "tags": "",
        "topic": "Agriculture",
        "summary": "A member of Indonesia's House of Representatives has urged the government to promote cassava and sorghum as local alternatives to imported wheat. The proposal aims to bolster the sustainability of the nation's food self-sufficiency programme and significantly reduce the country's import bill. The lawmaker also called for a government-set price for cassava to provide certainty for farmers and encourage increased production.",
        "content": "<p>A member of Commission IV of the Indonesian House of Representatives,\nFirman Soebagyo, is encouraging the use of cassava as a substitute for\nwheat to strengthen food self-sufficiency while reducing Indonesia\u2019s\ndependence on imports. Speaking after the 2026 Annual Session of the\nPeople\u2019s Consultative Assembly and the Joint Session of the House of\nRepresentatives and the Regional Representatives Council in Jakarta on\nFriday, Firman said Indonesia needs to reinforce the sustainability of\nself-sufficiency in eight food commodities by developing local\ncommodities with great potential to replace imported raw materials. \u201cIn\norder for the self-sufficiency of the eight commodities to be\nsustainable, the government should set a price for the eight\ncommodities, including cassava, just like rice. Then, innovation\nregarding imported raw materials such as wheat can be replaced with\nsorghum,\u201d Firman said. According to him, cassava can be a strategic\nalternative to wheat because it has the potential to be used for various\nfood products, including noodles and various other processed foods. He\nadded that sorghum is also worth developing as a raw material to replace\nwheat, giving Indonesia more choices of local commodities to support the\nnational food industry. \u201cIn fact, sorghum can be used everywhere to\nreplace raw materials for noodles and then for cakes and so on. Even in\nChina, cassava is already used as a substitute for noodle ingredients,\u201d\nhe stated. Firman assessed that increasing the utilisation of cassava\nand sorghum would help save the country\u2019s foreign exchange because it\ncan reduce the need for wheat imports, which have been quite high. \u201cIf\nthat is done, the foreign exchange savings will be quite large. Because\ncurrently, our wheat imports reach 2 million tonnes per year, if I\u2019m not\nmistaken,\u201d he said. To support the development of cassava, Firman\nsuggested setting a government price so that farmers have business\ncertainty and are encouraged to increase production sustainably.\nAccording to him, the price scheme can be adjusted to the conditions of\neach region because not all provinces are cassava production centres in\nIndonesia. Firman mentioned that the government has begun discussing the\npolicy through coordination between the Ministry of Agriculture and the\nMinistry of Home Affairs as a step to strengthen cassava commodity\ngovernance. \u201cThere is a policy that we have conveyed to the government,\nand reportedly the Minister of Agriculture has held a meeting with the\nMinistry of Home Affairs,\u201d he explained. He also encouraged the\nrefinement of regulations regarding cassava refraction so that harvest\nassessments are fairer and provide better protection for farmers. Firman\nhopes that strengthening cassava policy can improve farmers\u2019 welfare\nwhile accelerating the realisation of sustainable national food\nindependence. In his speech, President Prabowo Subianto said Indonesia\nhas achieved self-sufficiency in eight food commodities over the past\nyear. The eight commodities include rice, corn, consumer sugar,\nindustrial sugar, garlic, beef, buffalo meat, and soybeans. However,\nPrabowo acknowledged that several commodities have not yet fully\nachieved self-sufficiency. One of them is garlic, which is targeted to\nbe met independently within three years. \u201cWe are still not\nself-sufficient in garlic; we are striving so that within three years we\ncan achieve garlic self-sufficiency,\u201d Prabowo said in his speech.\nBesides garlic, Prabowo mentioned that Indonesia has still not achieved\nself-sufficiency in beef and buffalo meat. Nevertheless, he assessed\nthat the public\u2019s protein needs can generally be met by fish, eggs, and\nchicken meat.<\/p>",
        "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/house-member-pushes-cassava-as-wheat-substitute-to-strengthen-self-sufficiency-1786726504",
        "image": ""
    },
    "sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
    "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}