Ismarini pointed out that Indonesia’s food security index remains low, ranking 63rd out of 113 countries in 2023. This position is likely to drop in 2024.
“Indonesia is often referred to as an agrarian country with a large population working in the agricultural sector. But ironically, we still import rice, and many of our farmers remain below the poverty line,” Ismarini said during a discussion forum on Sustainable Food and Technology Adaptation in Jakarta, Wednesday, July 31, 2024.
Ismarini explained that countries like Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, and Thailand have achieved food security through the application of biotechnology. Indonesia must try this approach if it wants to break free from dependence on food imports.
She stated that the Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs currently fully supports the implementation of biotechnology in agriculture. “In 2019, the Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs issued a roadmap for genetically engineered food products (GEP), which we will revise this year by updating the use of new technologies, institutions, and supporting licenses for GEP,” she said.
Ismarini mentioned that the agricultural sector needs improvement to help Indonesia escape the middle-income trap. One way to do this, she said, is by applying biotechnology in the seed industry.
She added that Indonesia’s fragile food security system is evident from the increasing amount of imports. In 2022, the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) recorded rice imports of 429 thousand tons.
A year later, rice imports surged sevenfold to 3 million tons. Ismarini predicted that this year’s rice imports would reach 6 million tons.
“In summary, Indonesia is currently in a food emergency based on our food security index ranking, the large amount of rice imports, and imports of other commodities,” she said.
During an inflation control meeting with the Ministry of Home Affairs on Monday, July 29, 2024, Perum Bulog stated that it had imported 2.5 million tons of rice in the first half of 2024. The planned rice imports for the May to December period are targeted at 3.40 million tons.
Yusuf Wibisono, Director of the Next Policy research institute, said that if these rice import projections are realized, Indonesia will become the world’s largest rice importer. The 6 million tons of imports would surpass the record of the past 25 years. Yusuf mentioned that rice imports had once reached 4.75 million tons in 1999.
“This figure will also make Indonesia the largest rice importer in the world, surpassing the Philippines, which imports around 4 million tons of rice annually,” said Yusuf.
