Soybean Self-Sufficiency Polemic, IPB Professor: The Government Only Thinks About Instant Solutions, Namely Imports

Tempe, a food made from soybeans. (Photo: Pixabay)

JAKARTA - Domestic food processing activities are again facing challenges. This time, the classic problem of soybean scarcity has returned. These problems are then complemented by the high price of supply on the market.

Professor of Agriculture at the Bogor Agricultural University (IPB) Dwi Andreas Santoso said the dilemma of the 'wong cilik' commodity had actually occurred in a matter of decades.

"Actually, the problem of soybean raw material occurs because domestic consumption is higher than local production. So, to fulfill this, the government finally took steps to import, "he told VOI, Tuesday, January 5.

Dwi added, the option of bringing in raw materials from abroad could indeed be an instant solution to patch the existing problems. However, this method is not without challenges.

"Now, if most of our needs are fulfilled by imports and there is a disturbance like this, we are also the ones who are bothered," he said.

Regarding the import, Dwi continued, his party has been conducting studies since 2002 when the government opened a large scale import of soybeans. At that time, he discovered that the local soybean price was IDR 2,500 per kilogram. Meanwhile, the price of varieties imported from abroad is IDR 1,500.

"This is where the beginning of why we can't meet our own needs because it is cheaper to import them from abroad," he said.

Self-sufficiency in soy

Seeing this fact, the government does not remain silent. According to Dwi, the state had run the Upsus Pajale program in 2014. This strategy is an effort to increase the empowerment of agricultural human resources in the food crop, plantation, horticulture and livestock sub-sector production centers so as to achieve food self-sufficiency.

However, the IPB academic considered the government to be wrong in terms of handling national soybean independence. He noted that the government, represented by the Ministry of Agriculture, is targeting to achieve self-sufficiency in soybeans by 2019.

The target was then sharpened to self-sufficiency in 2018. However, Dwi said, the facts that occurred in the field were the opposite. He said that soybean imports in 2014 were around 4.2 million tons. Then, in 2019 there was an increase in imports to 7.2 million tons.

"So what the government is doing is only discourse and rhetoric," he said.

Dwi continued, another problem with insufficient national soybeans is that there is a price disparity between the products of local farmers and the selling price on the market.

"It is not enough to deal with the problem of soybean self-sufficiency with agricultural intensification and extensification. The government must intervene regarding the selling price, "he said.

For example, the state must be present to help cover the difference between the production price and the selling price in the market through the subsidy method. Thus, local farmers' interest in cultivating soybean crops is getting higher.

To note, there has been an increase in the price of imported soybeans in the last few months. Based on editorial records, in November 2020 the price of soybeans was known to be at the level of 11.92 US dollars per bushels.

A month later, the price crept up to 12.5 US dollars per bushels. The world food organization FAO also agrees with this. In FAO records, the price of soybeans is believed to have jumped 6 percent to 461 US dollars per ton from the previous 435 US dollars per ton.

As for the retail level in the country, the increase in the price of imported soybeans increased by about 20 percent from the usual IDR 7,000 to IDR 9,500. It is suspected that the increase in the price of vegetable protein commodities was caused by China's buying action in the international market which eroded Indonesia's quota.