Government Launches Several Strategic Steps to Accelerate Food and Energy Self-Sufficiency
By: Moh Jasin
The government continues to strengthen its commitment to realizing food and energy self-sufficiency in order to ensure sustainable national resilience. Strategic steps continue to be intensified to optimize Indonesia’s potential in the agriculture and energy sectors.
In the food sector, support for farmers through adjusting grain prices and facilitating access to financing are concrete steps to increase production. Meanwhile, in the energy sector, exploration of domestic resources such as geothermal, wind, and bioenergy is being strengthened.
The government also believes that food self-sufficiency is one of the main pillars in realizing national resilience. Indonesia as an agricultural country has great potential in the agricultural sector. However, challenges such as climate change, land conversion, and dependence on imports are still obstacles to achieving self-sufficiency. For this reason, the government has launched a series of policies to accelerate the achievement of food independence. One of the concrete steps taken is adjusting the Price of Goods Sold (HPP) for Harvested Dry Grain (GKP) to IDR 6,500 per kilogram. This policy is expected to improve farmers’ welfare and boost national agricultural productivity.
In addition to price adjustments, the government is also expanding farmers’ access to financing and production facilities. Providing low-interest credit for farmers is a strategic step so that they can invest in modern agricultural equipment and land expansion. That way, domestic food production can increase and reduce dependence on imports.
However, the challenges in the agricultural sector are still quite complex. Deputy Minister of Transmigration, Viva Yoga Mauladi, highlighted the stagnation of food production which is the main obstacle to achieving self-sufficiency. Rice production which has decreased by 1.1 percent in the last four years and the low productivity of fish farming land indicate problems that must be addressed immediately. Therefore, the government is taking an intensification and extensification strategy to increase agricultural productivity.
On the other hand, the food distribution system is also a major concern. The government is trying to improve distribution infrastructure by building connecting roads between food producing areas and markets. With more efficient distribution, it is hoped that food prices will be more stable and affordable for the community.
The importance of food security is not only limited to rice production alone. Food diversification is one of the strategies implemented so that the community does not only depend on one commodity. The government is encouraging the consumption of local food ingredients such as tubers, corn, and sago as a more diverse and nutritious alternative. This step aims to reduce dependence on imports and increase national food security.
In addition to food, energy is also a vital aspect in building national independence. Indonesia has great potential in energy resources, ranging from oil, natural gas, coal, to renewable energy such as geothermal and wind power. However, dependence on imported energy is still a challenge that must be overcome immediately. Therefore, the government continues to develop policies to accelerate the transition towards energy self-sufficiency.
The Executive Director of the Segara Research Institute, Piter Abdullah, emphasized that food and energy self-sufficiency are two important elements in maintaining national resilience. According to him, a large country like Indonesia should not continue to depend on other countries to meet its basic needs. If this dependence continues, Indonesia’s economic and political stability will be very vulnerable to global dynamics.
One of the strategic steps taken by the government in the energy sector is optimizing the potential of existing resources. Head of SKK Migas Representative Office for Java, Bali, and Nusa Tenggara, Anggono Mahendrawan, explained that the government is currently focused on maintaining and optimizing existing energy potential, while accelerating strategic projects so that they can operate immediately. In addition, the government is also exploring to find new energy reserves to increase national energy security. Another effort made is synergy with the industrial sector to ensure that energy surpluses can be utilized optimally. An example is the use of natural gas on a large scale for industries that depend on gas fuel. With this step, energy efficiency can be increased and domestic energy security will be stronger.
