Farmers picking rice seeds in a village in Grobogan,Central Java. Experts note that other staples such as corn,
cassava and soybeans are easier to grow than rice
While senior officials regularly make well-meaning noises about the need for food diversification, both experts and the food processing industry say what is really required is a much more hands-on approach by the government, as well as greater support from banks, if Indonesians are ever to be weaned away from their love affair with rice. Overreliance on rice as a staple foodstuff not only involves questions of national food security, but also nutrition, they say. The problem is serious. A 2006 World Food Program survey on 341 districts and cities in 30 provinces found that people in roughly half of the areas are consuming less than 1,700 calories a day, well below the international standard of 2,100 considered necessary to provide the minimum energy required for an average adult. In addition, up to 70 percent of the country’s women and children are anemic, according to a United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) study that was compiled in 2004. The problem is not so much a lack of food, but a lack of variety. Poor people tend to substitute more expensive protein-rich foods such as meat and eggs with rice. According to Bustanul Arifin, a senior economist at the Institute for Development of Economics and Finance in Jakarta, the public’s virtual addiction to rice is effectively a cultural barrier to food diversification. There is a misconception that rice has to be eaten every day, even if alternatives such as bread, corn, cassava or potatoes are readily available. Bustanul said eating rice is also seen as a status symbol, while cassava is generally associated with poverty. The situation is exacerbated by regular media reports of people being “forced” to eat cassava due to the failure of a rice crop, as if cassava were something to be avoided. Figures from the Agriculture Ministry’s Directorate General of Food Crops show the country’s dependence on rice is excessively high. Agribusiness concerns say this has hampered efforts to encourage the production of other crops. Meanwhile, government attempts to encourage farmers to diversify have been hampered by inadequate support from banks, officials say. Farmers complain the government does little more than talk up alternative crops, while cutting import duties on foreign competition. Bank financing is notoriously hard for the farming sector to obtain. Despite the existence of rural lending programs, many farmers lack even the basic documents required to secure loans. Reliance on rice is a long-held habit, which diversification experts acknowledge will be hard to break. The country’s per capita rice consumption stands at 139 kilograms per year, much higher than in other Asian countries. In Japan, the figure is 60 kilograms per capita per year, in Malaysia 63 kilograms and in China 100 kilograms. Experts say the ideal amount is 60 kilograms. “The government has lacked seriousness in promoting food self-sufficiency and diversification, and has not given enough practical support to agribusiness concerns to help them achieve this,” said Rudi Sendjaja, production director at PT Buana Agro Sukses Makmur, one of the country’s main cassava processors. And while the government has introduced a series of programs over the years — the latest based on a presidential decree issued in June — they have produced little, according to Rudi, who is also a member of the Indonesia Horticulture Board, an agricultural think tank that advises the government on how to develop the rural sector. The June decree was issued in response to a prediction that milled rice production would fall to 38.4 million tons next year, from a previous forecast of about 40 million tons, due to the El Nino weather phenomenon, which is expected to give rise to droughts. The decree also instructed the Ministry of Agriculture to ensure that lower rice production is compensated for by alternative food crops, such as corn, cassava and soybeans. According to Rudi, the country has great potential to expand the cultivation and consumption of such crops, but this needs to be met with real action on the ground instead of the pronouncement of policies that rarely have any significance beyond the cabinet room. “To date there have been no clear or focused targets or priorities for the development of alternative agribusiness products. This needs to be done based on comprehensive and sustainable promotion programs,” Rudi said. Not all of Indonesia has traditionally been rice-eating. Many areas, particularly in the eastern part of the country, have relied on cassava. However, with the growing influence of Jakarta and Java, many of those traditional staples have come to be seen as “inferior” by the indigenous middle classes, who often switch to rice despite the fact that sweet potatoes and cassava are more nutritious. According to the June presidential decree, efforts will be made through the schools, media and institutes of higher education to encourage people to stick with their traditional staples. The decree also envisages the conducting of a nationwide survey on traditional foodstuffs to identify those that are suitable for wider promotion. It calls for efforts by airlines, restaurants and hotels to popularize traditional foods. In addition, local government leaders will be encouraged to promote the processing of traditional staples into new products. However, Rudi said financing was a major problem for both agribusiness concerns and farmers. As a consequence, he said, the government needs to provide incentives to help farmers and businesses diversify their products. “To date, the country lacks a bank that focuses specifically on lending to farmers. Neither are there any banks which are focused on lending to the agribusiness sector,” he said. While lending small amounts to farmers, the nation’s rural banks tend to concentrate their loans on the more lucrative small- and medium-sized enterprises in local communities, he said. Another problem, he said, is the lack of integrated marketing, distribution and transportation networks. As a result, products such as cassava and snake-skin fruit, or salak , are mostly sold locally in Java, and can be difficult to find in places such as Sulawesi. “Similarly,” Rudi added, “products such as corn and fruits from Sulawesi, for example, are not readily available in many parts of Java.” According to Indef’s Bustanul, food diversity is a matter of national security for Indonesia, with its population of more than 220 million people. Other staples need to be promoted because rice supplies are likely to be pressured due to global climate change, the loss of agricultural land to development, and rising consumer demand. Bustanul also pointed out that many alternative food crops, such as corn, cassava and soybeans, were easier to grow than rice. “These can all be easily grown in Java, Sumatra and Kalimantan, and no specific infrastructure is required, unlike irrigated rice,” he said. Another agribusiness entrepreneur, Irwan Djuwardi, the owner of PT Sinar Pematang Mulia, a tapioca starch producer, said the country had massive potential as a grower of cassava, and for processing it into derivative products such as tapioca starch and tapioca flour, both for domestic and overseas markets. Indonesia only produces an average of 19.6 million tons of cassava per year, compared with 26.4 million in Thailand, he noted. “Many areas of Java are suitable for cassava growing, but tapioca producers have failed to adopt modern processing technology,” he said, adding that financial support from the government was also lacking. “What we need are subsidies from the government,” he said. “But they have reduced the duties to between zero and 5 percent on imported tapioca flour, soybeans, chili peppers and fruits as a result of free-trade deals.” By contrast, he said, “We urgently need to import tractors and agricultural machinery, but these are subject to import duties of between 15 to 20 percent.” Over the longer term, however, the question of food diversification may not have so much to do with falling rice production as falling international demand. According to the International Rice Research Institute, an oversupply of rice is likely to emerge in the coming decades as consumption falls in Asian countries such as China, where increased affluence will lead to greater consumption of foods higher in protein. As falling demand drives the price of rice lower, it may no longer be a profitable crop, and farmers will be forced by the market to turn to other crops, regardless of the lack of government intervention or subsidies.
