Food sovereignty is conceptually interpreted as the right of every nation. It must be able to guarantee every people to produce food on their own, and can apply the system of agriculture, animal husbandry and fishery without the intervention of outside parties which is destructive. "In the end, food sovereignty leads to the fulfillment of food needs for the people, without any dependence on other parties," Prof. Dr. Ir. Ali Agus said at Grha Sabha Pramana, Tuesday (17/7), at a discussion Achieving Food Sovereignty: Between Goals and Reality.
Therefore, the lecturerof Faculty of Animal Sciences, Universitas Gadjah Mada said, jihad towards food sovereignty is necessary to do. In his view, the Jihad for food sovereignty is very urgent, because farmers have not always been able to enjoy crops due to imported food. "Consumers also prefer foreign products instead of their own country’s ones," he said as a moderator.
Under the topic National Food Politics and Agricultural Financing, the former Minister of Cooperatives, Adi Sasono. insists there is always a motive behind the actions of political economy. Politics is not just a discourse, concepts or writings, but a tangible action. "Including agricultural politics, we can be sure there is always a motive of money and economy behind the agricultural policies that are issued," he said.
Being the speaker, Adi Sasono said that development politics today as "modern sector bias" and "urban bias" which results in the concentration of land ownership because of the huge capital expansion facilitated by legislation and bureaucracy services. The result is mass proletarianization with the rapid increase in the number of farm workers.
Prof. Dwijono Hadi Darwanto, Professor of Agricultural Economics, Faculty of Agriculture, Universitas Gadjah Mada lamented the government's economic policy in the field of agriculture which more focuses on food sub-sector that impacts the lack of regulation on other sub-sectors, particularly plantations, livestock and horticulture. This indicates the lack of production and products trade from these sub-sectors, both in domestic and export markets. "It shows the productivity, quality and availability of products remain a fundamental issue for improving the competitiveness of farm products, livestock and horticulture, particularly fruit," he said.
Discussions in the series of UGM Research Week 2012, was opened by Vice Rector for Research and Community Service, Prof. Dr. Suratman, M.Sc. He said that food sovereignty is not just a political issue of food, but a commitment of public awareness. "The awareness of Indonesian food is its soul. This commitment is that we belong together, the Indonesian people," he said opening the discussion.