The House of Representatives Urges Government to Create a Roadmap for Food Self-Sufficiency

Member of Commission IV of the House of Representatives (Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat/DPR), Firman Soebagyo, has urged the Ministry of Agriculture to prepare a Roadmap for Food Self-Sufficiency (“Roadmap”) under the current administration. The Roadmap could help improve the quality of food.

“To achieve food sovereignty, it must be measured by the amount of land area and output based on production per hectare. This is what has not been clearly seen,” he told Hukumonline.

Production must be of high quality as mandated by Law No. 18 of 2012 on Food, as amended by Regulation of the Government in Lieu of Law No. 2 of 2022 (collectively referred to as “Law 18/2012”). While the government is required to purchase farmers’ harvested grain, even if the quality is suboptimal, the Roadmap, which includes the use of technology, rice fields printing, and agricultural irrigation, could help improve that quality.

“Under Law 18/2012, the quality of food products must be hygienic and good. None of this is reflected in the current Roadmap. There is still no planning or strategy in place to achieve food sovereignty,” said Firman.