"Zulhas Predicts Food-Resource Wars Could Break Out in 15 Years"

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.COM – Coordinating Minister for Food Zulkifli Hasan, popularly known as Zulhas, said the government predicts that in the next 15 years there could be global conflicts arising from competition for food resources. ‘Even it is estimated that 15 years from now, people could go to war to seize food sources. 15 years from now. There is already a lot of talk about this,’ Zulhas said during a Ramadan breaking fast event at the Central Board of PAN’s building in South Jakarta on Friday night, 6 March 2026.

To anticipate such a situation, Indonesia must prepare itself through a food self-sufficiency effort. ‘Therefore Indonesia must prepare itself early through food independence and strengthening domestic production,’ said Zulhas, who is also the General Chairman of PAN. ‘We must broaden access to economic control. If left to free-market alone, those who have money will dominate.’

He believes economic control needs to be distributed more evenly to prevent social inequality.

‘This must be accompanied by a distribution of economic control. If not, we risk what we call internal disorder,’ he said.

Zulhas assessed that every village should have new economic growth to support food self-sufficiency, protein self-sufficiency, and nutritious meals for all Indonesians.

‘Schools are good if our children are undernourished; stunting cannot be addressed. Therefore nutrition intake is number one,’ he said.

‘Maka lahirlah Kopdes, koperasi desa itu tanggung jawab kami,’ Zulhas added.

The government will also provide entrepreneurship training for village communities so that the local economy can grow.

‘Agar kita bisa mandiri dan swasembada. Mandiri swasembada itu kedaulatan, dan kedaulatan itu kehormatan,’ he explained.

‘Tidak mungkin Indonesia hanya satu mercusuar Jakarta, tapi harus di tiap desa lilin-lilin yang menyala terang,’ he said.