He pointed sago as one source of potential food that has not been used
optimally. Siswono mentioned that sago farmland area of the world is
only 2 million hectares. Half of it or one million hectares of sago
farmland is located in the Indonesian eastern territory. “As much as
3.5 million ton of sago is wasted each year, because the old sago tree
was uprooted by itself," he said.
Siswono was concerned with the Indonesia’s dependence on wheat. In his
opinion, this condition can be called food crisis following the
dependence on US sago for decades. The impact is our noodles and bread
depend heavily on the imported sago. "This is the result of US free
grain aid policy in the 80s. Eventually, we are so dependent on wheat,
"he added.
He pointed sago as one source of potential food that has not been used
optimally. Siswono mentioned that sago farmland area of the world is
only 2 million hectares. Half of it or one million hectares of sago
farmland is located in the Indonesian eastern territory. “As much as
3.5 million ton of sago is wasted each year, because the old sago tree
was uprooted by itself," he said.
Siswono was concerned with the Indonesia’s dependence on wheat. In his
opinion, this condition can be called food crisis following the
dependence on US sago for decades. The impact is our noodles and bread
depend heavily on the imported sago. "This is the result of US free
grain aid policy in the 80s. Eventually, we are so dependent on wheat,
"he added.
That is the opinion of the Board Council Chairman of Indonesian Farmers Association (HKTI), Dr. (H). Ir. Siswono Yudo Husodo, delivering his speech in a seminar on Food Security in Historical Perspective at the University Club Meeting building, Wednesday (5/5).
To become the world’s largest food exporter, he recommended every farmer to work on a minimum of 20-25 hectares of land. "We do not want the farmland that is tilled by our farmers to get narrower, which can make us food importing country," he said.
Siswono said that other potential food sources that can be developed are in the field of fisheries, which has so far been only used by 8 per cent. In his opinion, some of the food potential that can be utilized, among others, are rice, coffee, cocoa, cashew nuts, maize, rubber, white pepper, black pepper, nutmeg, CPO, clove, tea, and essential oil.
The Seminar in cooperation with Directorate of Historical Geography of Ministry of Culture and Tourism and History Department UGM presented several spokespersons, namely UGM historian Prof. Dr. Djoko Suryo, UGM anthropologist, Dr. Pujo Semedi, Professor of Diponegoro University, Prof. Dr. Tri Singgih Sulistiyono, and Professor of Agricultural Economics of Unila, Prof. Dr. Bustanul Arifin.