Relying on Local Foods

KOMPAS/DEFRI WERDIONO

Various tuber crops at the Research Institute for Various Nuts and Tubers (Balitkabi) in Malang, East Java, on Wednesday (12/8/2020),

The global food crisis teaches us to strengthen food sovereignty. Not many options are available, so the country can be free from pressure on food prices.

Commodities that are purely imported, namely wheat, make up 28 percent of the proportion of the national food. When the world faces a food crisis because the two main wheat exporters are at war, namely Ukraine and Russia, Indonesia must use it as an opportunity to return to a variety of local food sources.

Wheat occupies the second position after corn and a level above rice as a source of food from grains. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), world corn production in the 2021-2022 period is estimated at 1,192 million tonnes: 776.7 million tonnes of wheat and 519 million tonnes of rice. These three grains account for about 89 percent of the world's total food production (Kompas, 12/10/2022).

The rush due to the food crisis, which is marked by a spike in food prices, should provoke all parties to look at local food commodities.

For years we have been buzzing about the consumption of local foods, but this matter has never led to real, long-term action. Local food campaigns are just slogans. Now is the time to make the invitation to produce and consume local foods a reality. The rush due to the food crisis, which is marked by a spike in food prices, should provoke all parties to look at local food commodities.

Also read:

> Safeguarding Local Food

> Appreciation of Local Wisdom

We appreciate the number of researchers who continue to seek and develop local food commodities. Several companies have actually tried planting a number of local food sources, even though some have not continued the effort.

KOMPAS/FABIO M LOPES COSTA

The Papuan Jungle Chef community grows bananas in the yard of a resident's house in Imbi Village, Jayapura City, Papua, on Friday (1/5/2020).

Problems that arise, ranging from markets that are not easy to accept local foods, low crop productivity and inadequate land to problems with local food processing, have become a daily menu. In the end, all of this is a business matter. Entrepreneurs will definitely enter the local food industry when business calculations come in.

Local food development efforts like this are not sustainable. Farmers cannot get incentives and do not want to continue farming.

Therefore, local food issues must be addressed from top to bottom. It cannot just be a matter of production. Problems with the taste and menus need to be resolved by culinologists. Otherwise, there will be a momentary trend for a particular commodity, but then those involved do not make a profit. Local food development efforts like this are not sustainable. Farmers cannot get incentives and do not want to continue farming.

The food crisis at this time should accelerate the collaboration of all local food parties. Of course, this cannot be done in a short time. However, the pressures of the food crisis need to be addressed by all parties as soon as possible so that food prices are not too high. Household scale developments can be started. More than just developing local foods on a business scale, the campaign needs to raise a food crisis awareness for the need of food sovereignty.

(This article was translated by Hyginus Hardoyo)