Import tension: People at a fruit market in Jakarta. President Prabowo says Indonesia must not only pursue self-sufficiency for rice, but for all other food commodities. — AFP
JAKARTA: As an alternative to corn, the government is considering importing wheat for use as animal feed, says Coordinating Food Minister Zulkifli Hasan.
However, procurement of wheat would only be necessary when the country was in short supply of domestic corn, Zulkifli said.
“As an alternative to corn, there’s wheat as animal feed, the price is affordable,” he said on Monday during a press conference, following a limited ministerial coordinating meeting here.
Zulkifli further emphasised that the plans for importing wheat must be carefully considered as it could disrupt domestic corn absorption, which could then lead to plummeting farmgate prices of domestic corn supply, placing farmers in a difficult situation.
“So, if there’s a flood of wheat supply, the corn will not be absorbed by the factories because it has been replaced by wheat for animal feed,” he said.
He added that plans for importing wheat would be discussed and determined during the next limited coordinating meeting.
Indonesia has been importing corn for years, amounting to between 1.3 million tonnes and 1.4 million tonnes from 2019 to 2023, according to Statistics Indonesia (BPS) data, as the country sought to keep the commodity affordable for chicken and egg farmers.
Corn farmers, however, have frequently asked the government to limit foreign corn shipments to protect farmgate prices.
Last year, the government was set to slash import quotas for corn, salt and sugar, as it sought to boost domestic production and gradually move toward self-sufficiency.
Import quotas for the three commodities would be much lower than the projected demand from local industries and the government wants Indonesian industries to use more domestically produced inputs.
On Dec 21, Zulkifli said he was optimistic that overall corn production in 2025 would reach 16.7 million tonnes, exceeding the national demand of 13 million tonnes.
He pointed out that the surplus could be exported elsewhere.
BPS recorded that corn production was projected to increase to 15.2 tonnes last year, from 14.7 tonnes in 2023.
President Prabowo Subianto stated on Dec 2 that Indonesia must not only pursue self-sufficiency for rice, but for all other food commodities in the future.
“We must not only be free from rice imports, but we must also be free from all food commodity imports,” said Prabowo at the State Palace.
The country had previously been self-sufficient in the first three until the late 1990s.
The topic of food security has become a highlight of international concern since 2022 following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The conflict disrupted wheat shipments to international markets as both countries were among the world’s largest wheat exporters, which at that time led prices for the commodity skyrocketing. — Jakarta Post/ANN
