Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
in 1998 (pesticide subsidies had already been abolished as early as 1989). Popularly-
elected governments subsequently re-implemented the fertilizer subsidy in 2003.
The reformasi period has delivered a new national institution, the National Food
Security Board (Dewan Ketahanan Pangan (DKP)), whih was established in 2001
by Presidential Decree (No. 132), with an implementing Presidential Regulation (No.
83) issued in 2006. The DKP was tasked to assist the president to formulate a na-
tional food security policy whih would ostensibly cover various areas suh as food
availability, maintenance of food stoks, distribution, consumption, food quality and
variety, nutrition, and food safety. While the inclusion of food consumption and nu-
trition within the DKP would appear to suggest greater atention to household-level
food accessibility and utilization, in reality a core concern for national-level food
self-sufficiency has been retained. This is perhaps not surprising, as the DKP is sup-
ported by a full-time secretariat within the Ministry of Agriculture. This institutional
location hallenges the impartiality of the DKP at moments when it needs to care-
fully balance consumer and producer interests instead of responding to its 'natural'
farmer-based constituency.
During the 2004 presidential election campaign, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono
(SBY) highlighted his recent doctoral study in rural political economy from Bogor
Agricultural University, leading to widespread expectations of enhanced agrarian
support during his presidency. Indeed, agricultural production and productivity did
increase during his first presidential term (
Table 10.1
)
, with claims again being made
in 2008 that Indonesia was self-sufficient in rice. An important strategy to bolster
food production during the period 2005-2009 (as reported in the 2010 Food Security
and Vulnerability Atlas, in DKP (2010)) was the expansion of permanent agricultural
land, accompanied by a two-fold increase in the budget allocation for fertilizer sub-
sidies; enhanced regulation of LPG for fertilizer production; and agricultural invest-
ment and credit incentives (FSVA, in DKP (2010)). These initiatives reflect the central
aim of the DKP, explicitly expressed as ahieving (or maintaining) national self-suf-
iciency in 'strategic' commodities suh as rice, maize, soybeans, sugar and meat.
Table 10.1
Production of major food commodities in Indonesia, 2006-09
