InfoSAWIT, JAKARTA – For almost a decade in the era of President Joko Widodo, food sovereignty was one of many campaign - promises that many monitored. Since in his period, Joko Widodo was committed to realize the food sovereignty. The question remains, is it realized?
Tejo Wahyu Jatmiko of Perkumpulan Indonesia Berseru said the food sovereignty in the era of Joko Widodo ‘has but has not’ been. Tejo thought, even many programs ran, the implementations were not always the same with the main goals or it seemed to be not fully realized. Some policies published were even contra-productive, such as, the dependence on food imports and they kept increasing.
He also mentioned the focus of policy in the era of Joko Widodo for certain commodity, such as, corn, paddy, and bean, did not significantly deliver impacts. As the output, food imports kept increasing and made Indonesia as one country stuck in the import dependence.
Agricultural area conversion to be plantations and the infrastructures were also the focuses. Executive Director of Sawit Watch, Achmad Surambo said that since 2015 to 2024, land use change to be palm oil plantations laid about on 698.566 hectares. “This showed that the areas that actually should be for food production, got changed. This made the food sovereignty in Indonesia worse,” he said, as in the official statement, as InfoSAWIT quoted, Thursday (17/10/2024).
Giorgio Budi Indrarto of MADANI Berkelanjutan also said many wet and dry agricultural areas in Kalimantan and Sumatera changed to be palm oil plantations, these threatened the area allocation for food sectors. He thought, these would have something to do with the national scale – food system if they were not managed well.
Back to Tejo, he emphasized if the next government – President Prabowo Subianto and Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka would improve food condition, they should focus on developing food producer region in small scales and re-manage the agrarian resources. “It needs to reinforce food sovereignty – policies with the clear budget allocation sustainably,” he said. (T2)