A farmer spreads fertiliser on his paddy field in Lamteuba, Aceh, on Aug. 22, 2022. - Photo: AFP file
JAKARTA: A high-ranking government official estimates that 7 to 16 percent of Indonesia’s population is vulnerable to starvation amid declining domestic rice production.
Given the country’s population of 281.6 million as of June, based on Statistics Indonesia data, that would translate to between 20 million and 45 million people being at risk of hunger.
“We are still a little bit better than Thailand in terms of food security,” Home Ministry Regional Development Director General Restuardy Daud said on Wednesday (Aug 14) during an event organised by the National Movement for Controlling Food Inflation (GNPIP).
In his speech broadcast live on YouTube by Bank Indonesia, Restuardy also compared Indonesia’s situation with that of Singapore, a country that he said had greater food security despite relying strongly on imports and having a much smaller landmass.
Restuardy noted Indonesia’s challenge in securing rice when major rice exporters India, Cambodia and Thailand curbed shipments and went on to say that resilience and reliability in the food trade were critical to ensure food security, which had to be supported by technology, logistics and governance.
“For example, we have rice milling that can increase efficiency [and] raise the quality of rice production to a premium [level],” he said.
The 2024 state budget allocated Rp 114.3 trillion (US$7.28 billion) for food security to increase the availability, access and stabilisation of food prices.
That figure marks a continued increase over the last five years: The government allocated Rp 74.5 trillion, Rp 86 trillion, Rp 88.8 trillion and Rp 100.9 trillion for food security in 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023, respectively.
On June 27, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo warned that the country was expected to face heat waves and droughts over the next four months, potentially leading to a food crisis, citing information from the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG).
The archipelagic nation has experienced prolonged droughts in almost every dry season, worsened by the El Nino weather phenomenon, which often disrupts domestic rice production, forcing the country to import rice to secure domestic stocks.
The situation could worsen this time around, as other countries experiencing long droughts and heat waves might also see their rice production decline, prompting them to prioritize their domestic consumption over exports, Jokowi said.
"Indonesia is vulnerable to a hunger crisis.
"We must boost our food production, especially rice, in the next three months," Agriculture Minister Amran Sulaiman said on June 27, as quoted by news agency Xinhua.
The report noted that the government had initiated a programme to distribute pumps throughout the country to ensure water supply for rice fields.
"We will provide up to 70,000 more pumps across Indonesia.
"The programme is expected to increase our planting index.
"If previously we only had one planting season per year, it could become three times," Jokowi said, also on June 27, as Xinhua reported. - The Jakarta Post/ANN
