GOVT TO SET UP FOOD AGENCY TO ACHIEVE FOOD RESILIENCE

By Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, Oct 27 (ANTARA) - Indonesia, an agriculture-based country with a population over 237. 6 million and vast tracts of unused land outside Java Island, continues importing rice to meet its domestic needs.          Last year, 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 some 33 million tons annually.          Therefore, when the House of Representatives passed a revision to the 1996 Food Law last week that created a platform for the establishment of a new food authority body, many quarters hoped that the new body would be able to assure a resilient supply of food for the nation.           On Thursday last week the House endorsed the 1996 Food Law revision, creating a new agency that will have policy-making authority on food security issues, including issuing orders to relevant ministries.          The food authority agency, which will be established with a Presidential Regulation and answers to the President, will be charged with the task of formulating food policies and assuring the availability of national food stocks and stabile food prices.          It will also have the authority to assign state-owned firms to carry out production, procurement, stocks, distribution and control over food production. Thus, different conflicting polices governing food, which hampered the national food self-efficiency goals, are to be consolidated.          Currently, a number of ministries are regularly at odds over policies on the development of food and agricultural commodities.         "There are at least 14 ministries whose tasks are related to food issues. Rather than coordinating with each other, these ministries are mired in conflicts," Indonesian Political Economic Association (AEPI) agriculture expert Khudori was quoted as saying by the Jakarta Post on Monday.          Agricultural expert of the Bali-based Udayana University, Dewa Ngurah Suprapta, on Friday praised the plan to establish a food authority body that was needed to create a resilient food supply, as well as food sovereignty at home.          "Such an agency will have great responsibilities and will have to depend on the tasks given by the President," said Suprapta, who is also a visiting lecturer at universities in Japan.          He added that the president should provide full authority to such an agency and concerned ministers must fully support the food resilience agency in implementing its strategy.          "A national food agency with complete authority will be able to adopt strategies to achieve domestic production-based food resilience," the professor said.          He further said that Indonesia's agricultural policy only aimed to create food resilience and was not based on the capabilities and potential of the country's agriculture.          The government has to focus on local production and take steps to reduce the nation's dependence on imported products in order to achieve food security.          "By passing the revision of the Food Law, the food authority agency is expected to help the nation achieve food security soon, because the board is responsible for tackling Indonesia's food problems, as stated in the law," Suprapta said.          In essence, the food authority agency must be a strong body so that its policies will be effective.          Agricultural observer Tejo Wahyu Jatimiko, who is also coordinator of the Alliance for Prosperous Village organization, said the food agency must have strong authority in controlling food policies so that imports of food could be reduced.          "Logically, the body must have the highest authority in food affairs so that it could be effective in reducing the country¿s food imports," Tejo Wahyu Jatmiko told Antara on Thursday.          He said that dependence on imports could be stopped because all matters, such as production, distribution and consumption, were managed under one command. Further, the agency's position in the government should be at the level of a coordinating minister so that it would have strong authority in controlling food affairs, and should answer to the president.          "The idea of the establishment of the agency is to harmonize policies among the 14 ministries and state institutions which, so far, also handle food problems. The agency should at least have a level equal to the coordinating minister so that it would have effective power," he said.          He cited as an example the ministry of agriculture, which handled production; state-logistics board (Bulog) oversees distribution and the ministry of trade tackled food trade.          So, he said, the presence of the agency was something extraordinary, particularly with regard to its authority. The agency must also ensure the availability of productive land so that land conversion to purposes other than agriculture would be prevented.          Agricultural land conversion into industrial sites, estate or for other purposes is believed to be one of the causes of the lack of agricultural products and dependence upon imports in Indonesia.          Agriculture Minister Suswono has predicted that about 100 thousand hectares of agricultural lands are converted to other purposes each year.          It is this reason that the Indonesian Farmers Association (HKTI) said that Law No. 5 /1960 on the Agrarian Affairs must be observed regarding agricultural land conversion. One of the points in the law was that land was designed for the interests of the people, including the interest of developing food for them.         "We already have the law which regulates that land has social functions, so we do not need a technical regulation on land conversion," HKTI deputy chairman Rachmat Pambudy said.          He further said the government, in following up the revision of the 1996 Food Law, did not need to issue a technical regulation on the restriction of agricultural land conversion.          The existing law could be implemented to restrict agricultural land conversion, which is seen as one of the factors that boosted imports of agricultural products. The government, according to some observers, has not yet given appropriate attention to local products in carrying out its food resilience program.          "Food resilience has been given priority, so far, with the government importing commodities, such as rice, in times of shortages, but efforts have not been directed towards increasing production at home," Suprapta said.          Therefore, he hoped the establishment of the food authority agency would help in achieving domestic production-based food resilience.           In the meantime, Saprudin, head of the Directorate of Rain-fed Rice Fields of the Ministry of Agriculture, said that Indonesia had no problem in achieving food security in 2012, with the three million ton-surplus rice production target likely to be reached this year.          "This year, the country's (unhusked) rice production target is set at 65 million tons, which would leave a surplus of three million tons, Saprudin said  on Tuesday.           Further, according to Saprudin, the country's rice production target for 2013 is set at 75 million tons.           "We are confident of reaching the target in 2013. We are also optimistic about achieving a 10 million ton surplus in rice production in 2014," he added.***2*** (T.A014/A/KR-BSR/O001) 27-10-2012 14:50:0