The Indonesian government has affirmed that it will stop importing strategic commodities such as rice, corn, sugar, and salt by 2025.
This decision, announced after a limited meeting in late December led by the president and several related ministers, is part of the government’s effort to boost food self-sufficiency by focusing on increasing domestic production.
Responding to this target, UGM Professor of Agricultural Extension and Communication, Subejo, said that achieving the goal of halting imports is not easy, given that the agricultural sector and the marine and fisheries sectors supporting food security still face many unresolved challenges.
“Considering import data on strategic commodities in recent years, it seems that the stop-import program within a year is very difficult; a range of three to four years is more realistic,” said Professor Subejo on Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025.
According to him, the ambition to stop importing rice, corn, sugar, and salt is commendable and should be appreciated, although it will have a highly complex impact on national food security.
Data from recent years show that imports of these four strategic commodities remain high; for example, rice imports still reach 3 million tons per year, while corn imports approach 1 million tons per year.
Sugar imports even reach an impressive figure of 4 million tons per year.
A similar situation exists with salt imports, which reach 2 million tons per year—a significant irony considering that 63 percent of Indonesia’s territory is water with an extensive coastline.
“To address this shortfall, domestic production capacity and food sector resilience must increase significantly with various prerequisites, such as availability of production land, infrastructure, access to inputs, financing, human resources, technology, and innovation, as well as adequate governance and institutions,” he explained.
Regarding the availability of production land, Professor Subejo is concerned about the tiny scale of farming.
The 2023 Agricultural Census data shows that farmers managing land as small as 1,000 square meters number only 7 million.
Although this represents an increase of about 70 percent compared to 10 years ago, limited extension services and farmer human resource capacity, coupled with other problems, result in low production efficiency and relatively stagnant productivity levels.
“Opening new agricultural lands that have high suitability on a limited and manageable scale must be done gradually,” he elaborated.
Additionally, irrigation infrastructure is crucial in determining whether farmers can successfully plant agricultural commodities.
Based on rice planting index data, which is less than 1.5, this means rice fields are only planted 1.5 times per year nationally, primarily due to limited water availability.
He emphasized that if large- and medium-scale infrastructure projects across provinces and micro-irrigation at the village level receive priority for development and revitalization, the potential for increasing the planting index is very high.
For instance, increased production can be achieved by introducing rice varieties that are adaptive to limited water resources, such as Padi Gamagora 7, which was developed by UGM.
Given the public’s dependence on imported rice, corn, sugar, and salt, he warned that if a significant increase in domestic production does not accompany the food import ban, it could worsen short-term food security, cause food price hikes, and add inflationary pressure.
This would reduce the purchasing power of the public, especially low-income groups.
To prevent these negative impacts, the stop-import policy must be accompanied by mitigation measures, in addition to boosting domestic production capacity, such as diversification and strengthening distribution systems for rice, corn, sugar, and salt. Social policies and food assistance must also benefit vulnerable communities.
“If appropriate measures do not support the stop-import policy, it could lead to social tensions, economic instability, and other negative impacts on the community’s overall welfare,” Professor Subejo added.
He stated that the success of this stop-import policy heavily depends on collaboration between the government, the private sector, and farmers, who must support each other to ensure increased agricultural productivity, food security, and stability in domestic food prices.
The private sector and investors are considered critical in supporting the government’s stop-import policy.
The private sector and investors can contribute through partnerships with farmers by consistently purchasing agricultural products or providing technology training and guidance.
“The private sector can also invest in agricultural technology, such as using the Internet of Things (IoT), post-harvest processing, and storage to facilitate distribution, as well as providing financial assistance,” he said.
Professor Subejo also reminded the audience that the government’s stop-import policy for strategic commodities could affect Indonesia’s trade relations with its key import partner countries.
However, the process will be smoother if the policy is implemented gradually and consistently and if increased efficiency in production and competitiveness of domestic products can be demonstrated.
If this policy supports domestic production and reduces dependency on imports, Indonesia can strengthen its food security.
“With high production efficiency, economically and factually, national products should indeed be able to compete with products from any other country,” he concluded.
Author: Triya Andriyani
Post-editor: Lintang Andwyna Nurseisa Azrien
Photo: Freepik