FOOD: AGAINST MYTHS & DENIAL SYNDROME

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INSIST Policy Paper on Food

Facing the possibility of harvest failure (it is certain that more than 23.000 hectare paddy fields in East Java is going to suffer parched) due to the flood disaster, the government (again) denies that the disaster will treathen the national food security. In the press conference, January 8 2008, Food Security Bureau announced that the rice supply until March 2008 was still secure with the amount of 5, 5 million tons of rice. "If the distribution is secured and safe", the Food Security Bureau Chief, Kaman Nainggolan said, 'there would be no problem on food shortage".

The government's statement delivered by Food Security Bureau was much better than just conducting the denial behaviour as always done previously. From the official statement, it is also acknowledged that there will be rice supply lacking since the rice planting width targets are estimated to be not more than 3,9 million hectares, lesser than the planned 4,5 million hectares. At least, the government admitted the possibility of problem emerging in the distribution system or the problem will emerge in the production amount and the supply.

However, the overall consideration and basic view behind the government’s policies do not fully change from the old perspective. It still emphasizes much on the increase of food production as well as orienting more in rice. A systematic effort to start food diversification which are based on local system still limited and not a priority. Yet, in long terms, national food security should lead more to the way. Recently, the strong tendency, especially since the last decade which more on imported food supply and free trade mechanism, should be terminated immediately or, at least, reduced. Otherwise, the imported soy bean's price issue, for example, which is now being protested by the tofu and tempe producers will keep occurring in the future.

This is one of the main thought and suggestion proposed by INSIST in its first Policy Paper in this year —written by Hira Jhamtani, a member of INSIST Board of Trustees—on food policies. The paper is going to be published immediately (around February-March 2008) in bilingual editions, English and Indonesian —Third World Network which is based in Penang, Malaysia, is also interested in publishing the English version. Meanwhile, WACANA Journal in February 2008 edition is also going to discuss a similar topic.

In the Policy Paper (see image: the cover), INSIST emphasizes on the importance of changing the ways in viewing food problems in Indonesia. From those, the most important are: (1) the emphasize on food production for self-sufficiency instead of for trading and exporting; (2) the distribution system control which is free from the free trade system; (3) the bigger incentive and special protection towards farmers as the food producers; (4) the development of community based local food systems; and (5) the restructuring of the overall productive agrarian resource which enable all of the previous steps. In other words, the policy changing proposed is a basic change against the 'myth of scarcity' on food which, as they said, can only be overcome by big scale food and the capital and technological intensive agro-chemical industries. Then, the government is able to find the problem solving rather than just committing a constant ‘self-defence’ by ‘denying’ every event threatening our food security system.