New agenda on agricultural development

Subejo , The Jakarta Post , Tokyo | Mon, 11/16/2009 12:12 PM | Opinion

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono inaugurated his Cabinet last month. Now it is time to start implementing any type of development agenda that is directed at benefiting public interests. There is so much work to be done and appropriate attention should be paid to it.

One of the most vital agendas is on the issue of agricultural development. Agriculture in a broader sense has been, and still is, the main source of livelihood for the majority of our people. Agriculture not only offers jobs for millions of farmers, but also plays the most important role of providing enough food for the viability of our lives.

The President has set 10 top priorities for the new agriculture minister – President Yudhoyono delivered policy notes on agricultural issues to the new agriculture minister. These policies include food security, regional food self-sufficiency, improving productivity, intra-sector linkage, farmer wealth, proper subsidies, and fairness on export-import policies.

Food security is certainly very important, as we are currently witnessing a food crisis and there is a danger of hunger for millions of people around the world. Food consumption globally has been dramatically increasing. To some extent, huge food demand threatens the global food supply, which may lead to food shortages.

Farming failures have worsened food shortage problems. Drought, flooding, the outbreak of plant diseases prompted by global climate changes are the main factors of harvest failures in agricultural production.

There is still much work to be done on food security and food self-sufficiency. Landless and small-scale farmers are dominant in Java. Land reform is one of the solutions to provide more land for farmers. But land reform has never been a priority for the government, although land reform is crucial to create viable farming.

Policies on food pricing in Indonesia are still problematic for producers and farmers. Price policies almost continually give more benefit to consumers than to producers. Policies that are directed at low food prices give no incentive or benefit to farmers. Consequently, it is difficult to expect high food productivity under this policy system. Comparing the data on the index of farmer exchange rates or farmer purchasing power between 2003-2006 and 2009 indicates there has been no significant improvement.

Policies on price improvement for agricultural products will be a fundamental standpoint.

Improvements in food prices will likely benefit farmers as producers in increasing productivity. Farmers will have higher purchasing power for industrial goods and the other services if their income increases.

Later, it will stimulate industrial production. The cycle in sum may increase national economic growth.

Improvement in farmers` income will never be reality as long there is no significant improvement in productivity and commodity prices. Productivity can be increased through better resource access to farmers for land, water, seed and fertilizer.

Productivity improvement in farming is closely related to human resource development. Farmers, as managers of their farmland, play the most important role in determining the whole pre-production, production and post-production process.

Quality improvement of farmers can be done through well-organized agricultural extensions, activating farmer groups and associations, and giving farmers more chance for political participation and involvement in decision-making processes.

If the government could support better access for farmers in various ways, it will give incentive for productivity improvement. Better pricing policies will also improve farming income. Significant improvement in productivity and commodity price directly determines our food security and farmers’ wealth.


The writer is a lecturer at the School of Agriculture, Gadjah Mada University, a PhD candidate at the University of Tokyo and chairman of the Indonesian Agricultural Sciences Association (IASA)-Japan.

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