Creating a sustainable food security system encompasses more than just ensuring food supplies; it involves economic, social, and environmental considerations. Food logistics distribution is critical to achieving sustainable food security across Indonesia.
On the supply front, challenges to food security include resource competition, the impact of global climate change, and the prevalence of small-scale farming enterprises.
Meanwhile, on the demand side, hurdles include rapid population growth, shifts in consumer preferences, and competition for food commodities serving various purposes, from human consumption to animal feed and energy production.
The Head of the UGM Center for Transportation and Logistics Studies, Dr. Ikaputra, highlighted that issues surrounding logistic distribution and food security span economic, social, environmental, and policy realms. Key concerns such as distribution efficiency, food accessibility, and availability need urgent attention to fortify food security.
This also concerns issues of diversification and decentralization, stock and reserve management, infrastructure development, technology utilization, empowerment of farmers and small business actors, and food security.
“I trust this webinar can serve as a platform for stakeholders to tackle these challenges,” he remarked during the opening of the webinar titled “The Role of Food Logistics Distribution in Sustainable Food Security in Indonesia” on Wednesday (Feb. 20).
According to Dr. Ikaputra, addressing these challenges necessitates a holistic approach, integrating all elements to achieve sustainable food security in Indonesia. Enhanced collaboration among the government, private sector, and civil society is essential to fortify the food logistics distribution system towards these objectives.
The webinar, moderated by the center’s member Joewono Soemardjito, attracted participants from central and regional governments, state-owned enterprises, practitioners, academics, and the general public.
Expert contributions were presented by Pujo Saroyo from the Department of Agricultural Industrial Technology, Faculty of Agricultural Technology, UGM, alongside Joko Prasetyo Afrizal, Operational Manager and Public Service of Bulog Yogyakarta.
They delved into the role of food logistics distribution in sustainable food security in Indonesia, addressing critical issues such as the imbalance between demand and supply.
Many factors influence national food production and supply. For instance, the decline in arable land area and challenges in planting seasons and irrigation facilities significantly impact production.
Data from Statistics Indonesia in 2019 stated that the national raw paddy land area, initially 8.07 million ha in 2009, decreased to 7.46 million ha in 2019, or a decrease of 7.6 percent in 10 years.
The Ministry of Agriculture data also stated that 100,000 ha of paddy fields experienced drought and 10 percent experienced crop failure.
“This shows that planting seasons and irrigation facilities are important for food production,” he said.
Moreover, resource availability, including fertilizers, production equipment, and human resources, affects production capacity.
Regarding human resources, Statistics Indonesia stated that 38.7 million people work in the agricultural sector, but on the other hand, the agricultural industry is no longer attracting young people. Only 6 out of 100 Generation Z aged 15-26 are interested in working in the agricultural sector.
The fourth factor is that food production is also affected by competition with non-food production needs. An example is cassava as a raw material for bio-kerosene and bioethanol production, paper raw materials, starch flour, etc. Thus, cassava is expected to increase production due to its diversified usefulness for food and other uses.
“in order to achieve sustainable food security in Indonesia, a well-coordinated food logistics distribution system from production centers to consumers must be established through an integrated information system at national and regional levels,” highlighted Pujo Saroyo.
Quoting BPJS data for 2022, Joko Afrizal mentioned that a significant portion of Indonesia’s population, approximately 26.16 million people or 9.54 percent, lives below the poverty line and relies on affordable food prices. Therefore, Bulog is crucial in alleviating food-related poverty through its 3-pillar approach: availability, accessibility, and stability.
Availability relates to sufficient and available food anywhere and anytime, encouraging producers to continue production. Accessibility concerns providing physically and economically affordable food (prices), and stability is about giving confidence to the public about future food supply and prices.
These pillars encompass ensuring sufficient food availability, providing economically and physically accessible food, and instilling public confidence in future food supply and prices.
Bulog, in collaboration with the government, implements various strategies across upstream, middle, and downstream levels to maintain national food security, including farmer assistance, domestic procurement, food imports, and distribution optimization.
“At the downstream level, activities involve equitable distribution to regions, subsidized basic needs provision, and commercial basic needs sales through various channels,” concluded Afrizal.
Author: Agung Nugroho
Photo: PasarMIKRO