Jakarta – Sustainable agriculture is considered an important and strategic thing to encourage future development.
Chair of the West Papua Province Love NKRI Movement, Napoleon Fakdawer appreciated the government’s efforts through the Ministry of Agriculture which continues to encourage the realization of sustainable agriculture in order to build food sovereignty.
“Building food security in Papua is not as easy as turning over the palm of your hand because there are a number of challenges that lie ahead,” he said.
According to him, food sovereignty is one of the national development goals that must be realized through collaboration between the government, society and the private sector.
Not only the government, continued Napoleon, the community also plays an important role in maintaining food sovereignty in Indonesia. The community can support local farmers by purchasing products from local farmers.
“We can consume local food such as sago, taro and cassava, which are able to reduce the turmoil of climate change due to the El Nino storm,” he continued.
“We appreciate and support the government for not remaining silent and taking a number of steps to resolve the food problem, especially in Papua. “So, it is hoped that poverty alleviation and food sovereignty can be realized on our beloved Earth of Cendrawasih,” said Napoleon.
Meanwhile, Agricultural Observer of the Indonesian Political Economy Association (AEPI), Khudori also assessed that the Government has made maximum efforts to prevent the negative impact of rice price fluctuations that are still occurring.
“The government is concerned about maintaining the purchasing power of the poor and vulnerable communities so that their purchasing power is not affected,” he said.
According to him, several government policies in anticipating food price fluctuations have been relatively successful in society. He gave an example of one policy that was considered successful was rice assistance.
Furthermore, Khudori explained that fluctuations in rice prices had started to occur from August 2022 – March 2023. The government then moved quickly to distribute rice aid and was able to restrain the price increase.
“If the price of rice is high, their purchasing power will be disrupted and even people who are only a few inches above the poverty line could fall into poverty,” he explained.
Not only that, the Government is also actively securing rice reserves to anticipate potential crop failure. One way is to open the tap for rice imports.
He also hopes that the Government can anticipate a number of moments that can increase rice consumption, such as during the election.