Sourcing rice from Cambodia Proof that the government is not taking food security seriously

JAKARTA Sourcing rice from Cambodia is claimed to provide a number of benefits, but it is also not a long-term solution to maintaining the country’s food security.

Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment (Menko Marves) Kuhut Binsar Pandjaitan said the Logistics Agency (Bulog) will source a number of rice sources in Cambodia. Luhut said the takeover was an order from President Joko Widodo.

“Bulog will also source several rice sources in Cambodia. The president ordered me to take further action,” Luhut said on the sidelines of attending the 52nd anniversary of the Indonesian Young Entrepreneurs Association (Hipmi) in Jakarta on Monday.

Jokowi referred to Bulog’s investment in Cambodia as part of efforts to secure rice reserves.

“This is a business process that Bulog will implement to ensure that our country’s rice supplies are safe. Instead of buying, it is better to invest,” Jokowi said.

Maintaining price stability and rice stocks are challenges facing Indonesia, especially over the past year. In fact, self-sufficiency in rice is one of the important goals for ensuring food security and economic stability.

Whatever the power, achieving full self-sufficiency is still a challenge. Various obstacles such as low land productivity, climate change and agricultural land fragmentation are believed to be the recent scarce and costly reasons for rice cultivation.

The issue of rice shortages and high prices was also brought into the political sphere through news reports that indicated it was due to the distribution of social welfare, or welfare, ahead of the 2024 general elections.

In March 2023, i.e. in the month of Ramadan, Indonesia imported 567.22 thousand. tons of rice. Rice import volume increased by approximately 921.51%. compared to the import volume in March 2023 or on an annual basis. Compared to February 2024, the volume of rice imports increased by 29.29%.

Most rice imports in March 2024 came from Vietnam (286.26 thousand tons), Thailand (142.65 thousand tons), Burma (76.61 thousand tons), Pakistan (61.57 thousand tons) and India (100 tons).

In this situation, Jokowi came up with ideas for sourcing rice from other countries, such as Cambodia. According to Syaiful Anwar, lecturer at the Department of Economics and Business at Andalas University, Payakumbuh Campus, said acquiring rice sources in Cambodia can be seen as a risk diversification strategy and efforts to stabilize rice supplies.

According to data from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), rice production in Cambodia will reach over 10 million tonnes in 2021 with increasing exports.

“Cambodia is known as one of the countries producing rice with quite high productivity, and its price is relatively cheaper than in Indonesia,” wrote Syaiful Anwar in a column in Kompas.

Syaful observed a number of benefits to Indonesia taking over Cambodia’s rice sources, including ensuring a more stable rice supply, helping control rice price inflation in the Indonesian domestic market, and diversifying supplies.

“Relying on rice from different sources can reduce the risk of dependence on a single market or producing country, which can have a positive impact on a country’s food security,” he explained.

However, sourcing rice in Cambodia comes with challenges and risks, one of which is dependence on rice imports. Therefore, this project is not considered a reliable long-term solution to achieve rice self-sufficiency in Indonesia. Dependence on imports carries significant risks that can make achieving food independence more difficult.

Syaiful stressed that the government should focus on increasing domestic productivity, reforming agricultural policies and crop diversification as more sustainable and effective steps to achieve rice self-sufficiency.

“With this approach, Indonesia will not only increase rice production, but also strengthen food security and improve the welfare of farmers in general,” he said.

In addition to the acquisition plan, Bulog Luhut also revealed that Pertamina plans to acquire a Brazilian sugar and bioethenol supply company. In the future, the government plans to use bioethenol as a gasoline substitute for car fuel.

Datanesia Institute’s BUMN observer Herry Gunawan urged the government to develop domestic rice and sugar centers rather than pursue external acquisitions. According to Herry, it’s not actually a difficult problem, but the government’s political will.

“The rice that the company wants to buy in Cambodia, and then the sugar and bioethenol companies in Brazil, we can do all that here,” Herry said.

Herry said government commitment is weak, as evidenced by the amount of agricultural land that continues to decline as it is converted into factories, housing and other facilities, thereby reducing productivity. As a result, the contribution of the agricultural sector to the economy has also weakened.

BPS data for the first quarter of 2024 showed that the contribution of the agricultural sector to the country’s economy remained at 11.61%. However, in 2014 it was still approximately 13.31%. These data show that the government is not taking food security seriously.

“Now why do you want to take over companies abroad. Weird,” Herry said.

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