Why we need to change our food culture

Agus Pakpahan, Jakarta

The cases of malnutrition in West Nusa Tenggara (NTB), as exposed by the media recently, are only a small part of one of our oldest and most difficult societal problems. They are a reflection of poverty, inequality and backwardness, and the problems in NTB, I believe, are only part of our national food problem.

In terms of the global context, the world has a surplus of food. However, the distribution of food is not effective because of many factors. Geographical inaccessibility, low purchasing power of the poor, lack of seasonal food stocks and cultural dependency on only a few kinds of staples are factors that inhibit the community from having sufficient food to maintain life and health.

The world's history records that hunger and famine can seriously hurt societies. The famine in what is today Bangladesh in 1943 and those that took place during China's cultural revolution left millions of people dead. Why do we still have food problems in our modern era?

We will have severer food problem in the future if we are not able to change our culture on food. Globally, Singh (2002) estimates that the world's per capita food consumption (kcal/person/day) will increase from 2,761 kcal/person/day in 1995/97 to 3,100 kcal/person/day in 2030. Food consumption in industrial countries will grow from 3,374 kcal/person/day in 1995/97 to 3,550 kcal/person/day in 2030; and in developing countries food consumption will increase from 2,626 kcal/person/day to 3,020 kcal/person/day over that period.

Developing countries will increase their food imports from 106 million tons (1995) to 192 million tons (2020). So, the issue is very clear: Developing countries will face a very difficult situation: They will not have enough food for themselves.

We are a highly populated, indebted and poor country. Therefore, increasing dependence on imported food will not only increase the outflow of foreign exchange earnings but will also decrease our capacity to control our food. The signs of our declining capacity in this regard have been evident in our declining total productivity growth in agriculture from 2.6 percent (1968-1992) to minus 0.1 percent (1993-2000) and the declining growth in food crop, as against the growth of population, from 4.0 percent (1968-1992) to minus 0.4 percent (1993-2000). The growth in rice output, as against population growth, also declined from 3.7 percent (1968-1992) to minus 0.3 percent (1993-2000).

Declining agricultural productivity has far reaching implications. One of the requirements for successful economic transformation is that growth in agricultural productivity be higher than growth in non-agricultural productivity. We know that productivity is a product of many factors that are embodied in innovative capacity in technology, management, and the socio- economic organizations of our communities. Declining agricultural productivity reflects the declining performance of one or more of these factors.

The green revolution (GR) has increased world's food production. However, the GR has faced some limitations especially as regards ecological and societal requirements. Irrigated land, fertilizer, new seeds and farmers' capabilities to apply the GR package are all limited in developing countries.

Even though the number of people starving or chronically hungry has decreased from about 942 million people in 1970 to 842 million people in 2002, this reduction is mostly due to the significant decrease in the incidence of hunger among China's population.

We mostly view the food problem as a production problem. So, when we think there is not enough food, we think about increasing the inputs into production, whether in terms of quantity, intensity or quality. This way of thinking is not wrong as long as we recognize the limitations that are embodied in the law of diminishing returns.

Food is a part of culture. What we mean by food is determined by the common ways of thinking, feeling and believing (the culture) of a society. Therefore, changing our cultural perspectives toward food is essential. Using this perspective, we can define the meaning of food self-sufficiency as our social capability to adjust to our environment in order to fulfill our food requirements. It is not measured by the specific quantities of food that are produced.

Our cultural perspective currently sees rice as our main staple. So, we use rice as our yardstick for measuring whether we have enough to eat and whether we have food security. Of course, rice is important but if we interpret rice as our only food it will be dangerous for our future. We will not be able to produce enough rice to meet our needs without harming the environment and other resources. In addition, greater food diversity is not only good in terms of health but is also good in terms of the ecology, economy and societal perspectives.

Cheaper food is important because food consumption accounts for the bulk of household expenditure. The proportion of total expenditure that is devoted to food tends to decrease exactly in arithmetic progression as total expenditure increases in geometric progression. Therefore, a higher food share means lower household welfare.

We know that the share of food in urban household expenditure increased from 52.9 % in 1981 to 56.2 % in 1999, while the share in rural households increased from 66.1% in 1981 to 70.2 % in 1999 (BPS). The data shows that our national welfare declined during the above period.

Food is a mix of carbohydrates, protein, fats, vitamins, minerals and other things. We need to develop new foodstuffs that fulfill the following criteria: healthy, cheap, easy, and based upon our available local resources. However, cheaper food does not mean making farmers poorer. In fact, farmers can increase their income if we develop more processed products that provide room for the creation of added value and the scaling up of production.

One of the most promising possibilities is the developing of flour-based food products. Flour allows us to mix many kinds of food sources together, such as cassava, sago, taro, yam, etc. Flour also allow us flexibility in developing foods that have more time, form, place and social utilities.

We need an agricultural renaissance to enlighten our minds. We need to escape from our food culture, which inhibits us from creating and reaching out to a better future. We are what we eat and food is life and love. Changing food consumption behavior is a matter of cultural change.

The writer is an economist/chairman of The Union of Indonesian Estate Crop Growers' Associations.