3 Conditions For RI To Be In Food Sovereignty, One Of Which Is To Reduce Imports

YOGYAKARTA – Food sovereignty is a country's ability to meet the food needs of the community. History records that Indonesia achieved food sovereignty in 1984, but it was only limited to rice self-sufficiency. And it only lasted a few years, then it was no longer self-sufficient.

Two or three years ago, it was also declared that rice self-sufficiency had been achieved, but now it is no longer due to the hostile climate situation. So, what are the conditions for RI to be self-sufficient in food again?

Conditions for Republic of Indonesia to be Self-Sufficient in Food

There are three conditions that must be met so that Indonesia can be self-sufficient in food, including:

1. Suppress imports and accelerate planting

The condition for Indonesia to be self-sufficient in food again is to reduce imports and accelerate planting.

"It is very important for us to implement this accelerated planting policy to reduce imports due to the impact of El Nino. "Today we are laying the foundation so that in the future we can be self-sufficient," said Minister of Agriculture Andi Amran Sulaiman, quoted from Antara, Wednesday, November 22 2023.

2. Optimizing swamp land management

Minister of Agriculture Amran Sulaiman said that one of the efforts that can be made to achieve food self-sufficiency is by utilizing the potential of Indonesia's land area which reaches 10 million hectares.

"Our potential is 10 million hectares, hopefully we can reach 1 million hectares per year," said Amran.

Amran is optimistic that if these efforts are made, Indonesia can achieve food self-sufficiency in the next three years. This optimism was based on the fact that Indonesia had previously achieved rice self-sufficiency.

"We were self-sufficient in 2017, 2019, 2020 three times when Mr. Jokowi was president," said Amran.

For information, currently the Ministry of Agriculture is focusing on preparing agricultural foundations by optimizing the management of 10 million hectares of swamp land to achieve the target of food self-sufficiency.

The Minister of Agriculture explained that 1 million hectares of swamp land converted into agriculture could produce 5 million tons of grain. This figure can increase to 7 tons if the land is ready for IP 2 or even 3. With these efforts, Amran is optimistic that over 3 years he can produce 15 million tons of harvested dry grain (GKP).

“I believe Indonesia can also export rice. We will develop one million hectares of mineral swamp into rice fields. If 3 million times 5 tons is 15 million tons, 7 million a year and a half of rice. "We only lack 2-3 million, we can already export," explained the Minister of Agriculture.

Apart from rice, the food commodity targeted for self-sufficiency is corn. Planned for 3 years, these two commodities can be planted in mineral swamp land with the support of superior seeds and mechanization.

3. Use superior seeds

Quoted from the official website of the Directorate General of Food Crops, success in cultivating food crops is very dependent on seeds.

The use of certified superior seeds or seedlings has great potential to increase farming productivity.

The use of superior seed varieties is one effort to increase the production and productivity of food crops.

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