Prevalence Still At 21.6, Vice President Agrees Stunting To Be Pressed Through The Food Reserve Program

Vice President (Wapres) Ma'ruf Amin. (Dok Setwapres)

JAKARTA - Vice President Ma'ruf Amin supports food reserve programs as a solution to overcome stunting or stunting in children in Indonesia.

"I totally agree with the handling of stunting using the food reserves we have," said the Vice President when meeting with the ranks of the Central Board of the Indonesian Farmers Union (DPP SPI) at the Vice President's Palace, Jakarta, Friday, February 3.

Based on the 2022 Indonesian Nutrition Status Survey, the stunting prevalence rate in Indonesia is still at 21.6 percent.

Therefore, the Government targets the prevalence of stunting in 2024 to be 14 percent, so efforts are needed to accelerate stunting, including through increasing food reserves for the Indonesian people.

Furthermore, the Vice President explained that currently the Government is encouraging the improvement of public nutrition through animal protein consumption. This is an effort to accelerate stunting reduction.

"Now, the Government encourages animal protein and it also encourages our livestock to grow," he said.

As an effort to support the food reserve component, he emphasized the need for food diversification as an effort to manage food needs.

"We really have to encourage food diversification," he said.

Regarding the issue of agrarian reform, the Vice President emphasized that the Government ensured that the Team for the Acceleration of Agrarian Conflict Settlement and Strengthening Agrarian Reform Policy (TPPKA-PKRA) would continue to work actively and follow up on problems that arose so that they could be resolved properly.

"The government is committed to carrying out agrarian reform by dividing land that is not used. Do not let our land not be utilized. Therefore, there needs to be steps to redistribute land through agrarian reform," he explained.

He also expressed his hope that the DPP SPI could increase its contribution to the progress of farmers' education in the country.

"I hope that the SPI will indeed take a role in farmers' education," said the vice president.

Meanwhile, PSI DPP General Chair Henry Saragih said that his party would continue to support the Government's efforts to improve Indonesia's food, especially in the field of developing domestic food sovereignty.

"The main activities are for agrarian reform and food sovereignty. Alhamdulillah, according to the Government's program, until now it has become a priority and indeed we propose that food sovereignty and agrarian reform be built in our country," said Henry.

SPI is an organization that was founded in 1998 and spread across 25 provinces. SPI consists of small farmers, landless farmers, farm laborers, and rural communities. The organization is engaged in food sovereignty, agricultural agrarian reform agroecology, farmer cooperatives, and farmer rights.

Also attending the meeting were the General Secretary of the SPI DPP Agus Ruli Ardiansyah, the Chairperson of the SPI DPP Ali Fahmi, the Chairperson of the SPI DPP Angga Hermanda, the Secretary of the National Council of the SPI DPP Muhammad Harris Putra, and the Chairperson of the DPP SPI as well as the Coordinator of the World Farmers Movement (La Via Campesina) Zainal Arifin Fuat).

During the meeting, the Vice President was accompanied by the Head of the Secretariat of the Vice President Ahmad Erani Yustika, Deputy for Human Development Policy Support and Development Equity Suprayoga Hadi, Special Staff of the Vice President Masduki Baidlowi and Muhammad Imam Azis.