Jakarta, Nov 16 (Antara) - An official has predicted that Indonesia's
population will reach 400 million by 2030, posing a threat to the
country's food resilience if the government fails to prepare programs to
increase its crop production.
At present, Indonesia's population is estimated at 240 million. The
growing population will boost demand for rice, which is the staple food
of the Indonesian people. Based upon estimates from the Food Hope
Pattern (PPH) concept, the current need for rice has reached 129 kg per
capita per year.
With this calculation, the demand for rice for the Indonesian people
currently stands at about 31 million tons per annum.
By 2030,
Indonesia's population is expected to reach 400 million, so the need for
rice and other food products will also increase. "By 2030, our
population will increase by 160 million and our need for rice will
increase by 66 percent, as compared to the current demand," Setyo
Purwadi, the head of North Sumatra's Food Resilience Agency (BKP), said
on Saturday.
Setyo Purwadi noted that this population growth will threaten the
country's food resilience, which is not being balanced by increases in
food production.
With an increase in population of 160 million people, the country also
will have to increase its rice production by 66 percent to about 52
million tons per annum.
This amount is equal to 75 million tons of unhulled dry rice (GKG/less
than 18 percent water content) or 93 million tons of unhulled harvest
rice (GKP/between 18 and 25 water content). These increased amounts
could be grown if the acreage for rice plantations expands to 20.67
million hectares. The current crop land covers only 14 million
hectares.
Setyo Purwadi expressed concern that with rising population numbers the
country would face threats to its food resilience. Moreover, the
country has been importing rice in recent years, though in the 1980s it
was self-sufficient in rice production.
The threat in food resilience has been seen since the country's being
self-sufficient in growing rice in the 1980s shifted and Indonesia
became one of the world's largest rice importers.
He said to meet the need for rice to feed the population, which reached
240 million in 2012, Indonesia was forced to import rice from
neighboring Thailand and Vietnam.
In 2011, Indonesia imported 2.75 million tons of rice worth US$1.5
billion to cover the shortage of its stocks for domestic needs, which
has reached more than 30 million tons annually. Its rice imports in
2012, however, dropped to 1.8 million tons.
In terms of policies, the directorate general of food crops of the
ministry of agriculture has carried out plantation expansions of 14
million hectares in an effort to support the government's plan to
achieve a surplus of 10-million tons of rice in 2014.
In the past several years, the government sought to create a 10-million-ton food surplus, beginning in 2014.
But in reality, the government faced a number of problems which
hampered its efforts to reach its target, such as a decrease in
plantation productivity and lessening crop yields.
This
adverse reality does not yet include other food commodities that play
important roles in strengthening the nation's food resilience, such as
maize, soybean, chili, meat, salt, onions and other commodities.
Ironically, various crop commodities aimed to build food resilience,
but are also imported. These conditions were worsened by the fact that
younger people's interest in the agricultural sector is declining
because they are of the view that agriculture will not improve their
lifestyles.
Because the central government could no longer force regions to develop
certain commodities, the role of the local governments are needed to
help overcome the threat of food resilience.
"If the threat is not eliminated, it will pose a problem to the nation's future," Purwadi said.
Yet Minister of Agriculture Suswono remains optimistic, as there is a
downward trend in Indonesia's rice imports, as indicated in the figures
for rice imports in 2011 and 2012. Even, he believes, the country does
not need to import rice this year.
Early this year, the Ministry of Agriculture set itself a target for
producing 72.6 million tonnes of unhusked rice in 2013, up 5.4 percent
from the previous year's rice production target of 68.96 million tons.
"Currently, state-owned logistics board Bulog¿s rice stocks reached 2
million tons. This is sufficient to meet domestic demands," the minister
was quoted by Republika.Co.Id as saying last month.
He added that he was optimistic that there will be no rice imports in
2013 because the current year's crop land area had reached at least 13.5
million hectares.
Moreover,
the decision for not importing rice this year was also obtained from
President Director of state-owned logistic company Bulog.
"Hopefully,
Bulog will not have to import rice. Rice imports were made to increase
Bulog stocks. At the end of the year, rice stocks should be at least 1.5
to 2 million tons. If it is less than that, imports could be needed.
But most likely, there will be no imports this year," he said.
In the face of future threats to the country's food resilience,
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono chaired a coordinating meeting on
food security in Bukittinggi, West Sumatra, recently.
He called upon the nation to increase food production and reduce its
dependency upon food imports. The president said dependency on food
imports is not healthy, in the long term, and the correct solution for
food security is increasing food production at home.
Further, cooperation and action among the central government, local
governments and the private sector are crucial for food security, he
noted.
Also, extra hard work is needed to ensure food security amidst the
nation¿s growing population rate, changes to the environment caused by
climate change and the global food trade, he added.
He also
ordered the drafting of an action plan to increase food production in
Indonesia. The plan of action should be clear, realistic and achievable
for meeting the nation's food demand, the president said.
The national food supply has been adequate, but a plan of action is
needed to anticipate an increase in population, which currently stands
at some 250 million people, he said.***3***
(T.A014/INE/H-YH)
(EDITED BY INE)
(T.A014/A/BESSR/A/Yosep) 16-11-2013 20:16 |
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar