Jakarta, Nov 25 (Antara) - As Indonesia is rich in fish, it expects the people to become less dependent on imported beef and rather increase their fish consumption.
Deputy Chairman of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) Mahyudin called on the government to encourage fish consumption, as it would reduce the dependence on meat imports.
The Industry Ministry also advocated encouraging fish consumption in various regions. "We will boost fish consumption, apart from exporting fish, by developing the traditional fish industry," Industry Minister Airlangga Hartarto said recently.
The government continues to encourage people to consume more fish and has set a target to increase the country's per capita fish consumption to about 43.88 kilogram (kg) per annum from 30.47 kg recorded in 2010 and 41.11 kg in 2015.
Indonesia still imports about 40 percent of its beef needs for domestic consumption. Its domestic need for meat has reached about 600 thousand tons per annum or about 4 million heads of cattle.
Therefore, the Indonesian government in recent years has been launching its 'Gemarikan' (Eat Fish Movement) program across the country. This is expected to increase fish consumption level, advance the country's fisheries sector and hopefully reduce beef imports which could reach hundreds of thousands of tons per annum.
In order to increase fish consumption, it is imperative to increase production. The Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS) recorded that in the third quarter of 2015, Indonesia's fish production stood at 14.79 million tons.
Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Susi Pudjiastuti is optimistic about the growth of the fisheries sector in Indonesia this year. The government has allocated Rp13.8 trillion in the state budget for this purpose, 31.4 percent more than last year.
According to the Indonesia-investment.com, the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (KKP) has set itself a fish production target of 25.95 million tons in 2016. Of this, 6.45 million tons will be catch fish and 19.5 million tons will be cultured fish production.
Director General of Cultured Fish Slamet Soebjakto of the KKP is convinced that the cultured fish production would continue to increase in the coming years because Indonesia has a large area where it can be undertaken. Most of this potential is not yet being used.
Up to now, 11.8 million hectares are under sea water fish culture, 2.3 million hectares under brackish water fish culture and 2.5 million hectares under fresh water fish culture in Indonesia.
Besides increasing production, the government should also develop various facilities to boost fish consumption, such as improving its fish logistics and distribution systems.
"To facilitate increased fish consumption, the government should improve the national fish logistics and distribution systems," said Abdul Halim, secretary general of the People's Coalition for Fishery Justice (Kiara) in Jakarta on Friday (Nov 25).
The Kiara secretary general is of the view that the fish consumption level was rising as people are now aware about the health benefits of consuming fish.
Therefore, people will enhance their fish consumption to improve health and reduce their dependence on beef which still has to be imported. After all, the price of fish is relatively lower than that of beef.
"The price of beef during the recent Eid Adha festivities was recorded at Rp150 thousand per kilogram, while the price of tongkol (a kind of tuna) fish was only Rp20 thousand per kilogram. But, people still prefer beef because they are too much dependent on it," MPR Deputy Chairman Mahyudin said on Thursday (Nov 17).
The state has to spend a large amount of its foreign exchange for importing beef to meet the domestic needs of the people. The people also have to spend a lot of money to consume beef.
According to Mahyudin, the people would be able to purchase fish, and the government would not need to spend foreign exchange to procure beef. He is of the view that the potential of beef production in Indonesia is low. It is far from the potential to produce fish by the fisheries sector in Indonesia.
Slamet Soebjakto urged the people to increase the sources of their protein intake by eating more fish. "Currently, there are about 800 million people who suffer from malnutrition. They need cheap sources of protein but with high nutrition. This could be met by fish," he said.
He pointed out that it was reasonable for the government and businesses to give more attention to the development of cultured fish. After all, the world population is expected to reach 9 billion by the year of 2050. It is a great challenge for the world food development.
Indonesia's per capita fish consumption has, in fact, increased as compared to 29.08 kilograms in 2009 and 30.47 kilograms per annum recorded in 2010. Therefore, the people's fish consumption still has to be increased as it is good for the growth of the brain.
Based on the report of the KKP in 2015, people's fish consumption was only about 41.11 kg per capita per year. The government has targeted that each family member should consume 43.88 kilograms of fish per annum.
Consuming fish can also reduce the mortality rate among mothers and babies during labor. Therefore, the people must be encouraged to eat fish as it would improve their health and nutritional intake.
About 65 percent of the protein needs could be supplied by fish. Meeting nutritional needs is a serious problem, which is apparent by the fact that the average height of the people in the Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is 174 centimeters while that in Indonesia is only about 158 centimeters.
The growth of brain cells is supported by protein, which comes from different sources such as fish. Fish contains Omega-3 for brain growth.
The average IQ level of the ASEAN people is 93 while that of Indonesia is only 89. This problem must be overcome, and the situation should be improved by increasing fish consumption. ***3***(A014/INE)EDITED BY INE(T.A014/A/BESSR/A. Abdussalam) 25-11-2016 21:29 |
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