Food Crisis Imminent; Food Sovereignty, Agrarian Reform Needed, SPI Says

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The head of the Indonesian Peasnts' Union (SPI) Henry Saragih said that the main factor to trigger the food crisis is related to the fact that food management in Indonesia is food resilience oriented instead of food sovereignty.

"Food sovereignty is defined as the rights of all nations and of all people to produce food independently and the rights to implement farming and fisheries without subordination from the international market powers," he said in a press conference attended on Sunday.

The implementation of food sovereignty, Henry added, covers various aspects of the food system, starting from agrarian reform, agroecology, food reserve, and food distribution, to consumption. "This concept is simultaneously the alternative and the substitute to the current food system," he said.

According to Henry, the food crisis is also caused by inappropriate food trade, with agrarian sources dominated by big corporations and improper farming systems. "El Nino does indeed lower field production, but at places with no [proper] irrigation," he said.

The food crisis is spreading all across the globe, marked by the sharp rise in food prices. Food and Agriculture Organization reported in 2022 that a food crisis is imminent. "This is exacerbated by the climate situation which making food producers refrain from exporting," Henry added.

Food prices are also rising due to the lack of chemical fertilizers. "The consequences of this food system are agrarian conflict, poverty, hunger, stunting, obesity, climate change, and others," he said.

Thus, the government must place agrarian reform and food sovereignty in the national priority program as an effort to resolve poverty and to anticipate the food crisis.

However, SPI claimed that Jokowi has not realized these programs despite promising to. "It is certain that if by the end of his administration, President Jokowi does not conduct agrarian reform and food sovereignty, we can consider he failed to resolve hunger issues," he concluded.

DEFARA DHANYA PARAMITHA

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