Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
ability (domestic production) and food security in Indonesia. Certainly, there is a
deeply-held belief amongst most Indonesian people and policy-makers that rice self-
sufficiency equates to food security — a sense that was exploited by the New Order
regime to gain widespread support for its quest to ahieve national self-suiciency
in rice, and whih continues to inluence current debates on national food policy.
At what cost should Indonesia strive to feed itself?
During the 1970s and 1980s, Indonesia ahieved remarkable progress towards im-
proving the availability of food domestically through a combination of agricultural
supports, protectionist trade policy, public purhasing and the maintenance of bufer
stoks. As a result of these policies, Soeharto received an award from the FAO during
the 1985 World Food Summit for successfully transforming his country from being
the largest rice importer in the world to being self-suicient. his ahievement was
widely celebrated within Indonesia, fuelling a strong sense of nationalistic pride and
instilling a deeply-held belief in the population of the inherent cultural significance
of a nation being able to feed itself. Everyday Indonesians recall staged photos of
President Soeharto wearing a farmer's hat with a hoe in his hand, amidst green fields
of rice, heavy with grain. Domestic rice production actually fluctuated slightly above
or, more commonly, below national consumption levels in the following years, until
massive deficits were again recorded in 1998.
Subsidizing rice production
The flagship agricultural development programme during the New Order was the
Bimbingan Massal
or Mass Guidance Sheme (BIMAS), whih focused on enhancing
domestic rice production. BIMAS encompassed a pakage of integrated farmer sup-
port structures: funding for improved rural infrastructure suh as irrigation and
roads; tehnology transfer through agricultural extension; subsidized agricultural
credit hannelled through village-based cooperatives; the generation and dissemina-
tion of improved 'green revolution' crop tehnologies; and provision of agricultural
mahinery, suh as tractors and hand sprayers, to farmers. Critically, the government
ensured the availability of low-price fertilizers by supporting the establishment of
state-owned factories in strategic locations across the country. Removal of the costly
fertilizer subsidy was included within the austerity measures specified within the
Letter of Intent (LoI) that Indonesia signed with the International Monetary Fund
