VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

 Indonesia experienced a period of self-sufficiency in food, especially rice, in the 1980s. At that time,  World Food Organization, FAO even gave a special award to the Indonesian government for its extraordinary achievements. However, many years after that,  the self-sufficiency in rice seems difficult to repeat itself. Very often  Indonesia had  to import rice from neighboring countries, such as Thailand and Vietnam.

Today, during President Joko Widodo and vice-president Jusuf Kalla administration, Indonesia's desire to return to food self-sufficiency, especially rice, chili, corn and onions, is likely to come true. In early 2018, it looks like that Indonesia’s  food self-sufficiency will  be realized soon,  as stated by Agriculture Minister Andi Amran Sulaiman some time ago.

The desire is further strengthened by the revelation of the Head of Agricultural Counseling and Development Agency of the Ministry of Agriculture, Momon Rusmono. After harvesting rice crop in Kutuk Village, Undaan District, Kudus Regency, Central Java, Sunday (07/01/2018), Momon Rusmono said at present,  the rice import discourse is considered not urgent,  because domestic  rice crop is currently quite abundant.

 Nationally, Momon said, rice stock could reach one million tons, so it is enough to meet the needs for the next two to three months. Especially in the next month there will be a great harvest, so the target of 2018 for the absorption of 3.7 million tons of rice by the State Logistics Agency (Bulog) is likely to be achieved. If this happens, until next year Indonesia will no longer lack of rice, and food self-sufficiency target can be met.

Several efforts have been made by the Indonesian government, in this case the Ministry of Agriculture, to achieve food self-sufficiency. Among others is through the food self-sufficiency Special Effort program in 2015-2017, which focused on three commodities, namely rice, corn, and soybean. In addition, the government is also working to increase the area of planting. Based on data from the Ministry of Agriculture, the national planting area in July-September 2017 reached 1 to 1.1 million hectares per month. It doubled compared to the period before the program, which was only 500,000 hectares per month.

Of course Indonesia's desire to return to a self-sufficient state in  food, especially rice, is not a grandiose desire that can not be achieved. But it's not as easy as turning a palm. It takes the government's hard work and also support from various parties such as agricultural counseling  workers, farmers, traders and other stakeholders.