Food technology has a big role in realising food security, including food sovereignty. Food technology can give real contribution to food availability, distribution, accesibility, and consumption.
"With food technology, food material can be more lasting, having added value, accessible, and affordable, whilst reducing crop failure, increasing food stocks and security,” said Prof. Dr. Ir. Djagal Wiseso Marseno, M.Agr, in the Senate Hall of Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM) on Tuesday (23/5).
Djagal Wiseso Marseno touched upon this issue when being inaugurated as Professor in Food Technology at Faculty of Agricultural Technology UGM. In his remarks titled Food Technology and Geopolitics, Djagal highlights the new paradigm for Indonesia’s food development that has to be based on deep understanding of Indonesian geopolitics.
Such understanding, said Djagal, is expected to be able to resolve paradox phenomenon in Indonesia. In his opinion, Indonesia has all the requirement as an agrarian country, which has geographic condition, demographic condition, and huge natural resources. But instead it has a relatively low food security and big food import for a long duration.
"Deep understanding of Indonesia’s geopolitics is needed to be able to produce food. Food development in Indonesia has to observe food geopolitics that has eight dimensions, which are geography, demography, natural resource, ideology, politics, economy, social-cultural, and defence and security,” he said.
Djagal said an expert in food technology needs to also know food geopolitics to be able to meet challenges and threats from inside or outside.
According to Djagal, with the development of civilisation and understanding of law and human rights, a control by a country of another will no longer use physical power (hard power), but non-physical (soft power). An example is the use of the World Trade Organization (WTO) as an instrument to channel aspiration on food geopolitics by certain country on another.
Food geopolitics made by foreign countries on Indonesia is also seen in the ownership of shares in food and agriculture industry at a large amount. "This is made possible due to the large shares owned by foreign parties in food and agriculture sector in Indonesia that reaches 95 percent, as is stated in presidential regulation," he added.