TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Vice presidential hopeful Sandiaga Uno pledged before farmers in Indramayu, West Java to induce self-sufficiency (swasembada pangan) if he and Prabowo Subianto elected in the presidential election next year. The self-sufficiency would be focused on three sectors, viz. food, water, and energy.

“Food self-sufficiency is our program in 2019,” said Sandiaga after hearing stories told by farmers in Indramayu, as quoted from a press release Tuesday, December 18. The farmers demanded Indonesian rice production did not defeat by imports, “because the price of local rice in the market cannot compete with the price of imported rice.”

To actualize self-sufficiency in rice, the candidate number 02 explained, he would issue a regulation to stop the import during the harvest period. “Besides, increasing rice stock in Bulog, we will prioritize local rice. No more control from food and import mafia,” he underlined.

Thus, Sandiga said, his side would not raise Vietnamese farmers, but Indramayu farmers. He then joked that people’s lives is a number one, and the president is number two.

Prabowo - Sandiaga Uno pair would also focus to provide employment and stable and affordable prices of basic needs as well as fertilizers and medicines for farmers.

Meanwhile, Agriculture Ministry's head of Food Security Agency Agung Hendriadi earlier claimed that achievement on food self-sufficiency in the present era was better than that in the New Order era under President Soeharto. According to him, self-sufficiency in food is now not only centered on rice commodity but also onion and chili.