Over Half of Population Unable to Consume Nutritious Food

More than half of the Indonesian population, around 183.7 million people or 68 percent, are incapable of meeting daily nutritional needs.

KOMPAS/PRIYOMBODO

Various fresh vegetables at the traditional market located under Plaza Baru Borobudur, Ciledug, Tangerang City, Banten, Friday (6/5/2022). More than half of the Indonesian population, are incapable of meeting daily nutritional needs.

JAKARTA, KOMPAS — The Kompas daily data journalism team has calculated that the cost for Indonesians to buy nutritionally balanced or healthy food at Rp 22,126 per day (US$ 1.42) or Rp 663,791 per month. The price is based on the nutritional composition standard of the Healthy Diet Basket (HDB), which is applied by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). At this cost, 68 percent or 183.7 million of Indonesians cannot afford to pay the nutritional price.

Another calculation in this analysis is based on the World Bank standard, fixing the cost of food at the maximum of 52 percent of the family’s total spending. In order to determine the amount of nutritionally balanced food, this analysis uses the food price calculator application developed by the research team of Food Prices for Nutrition from Tufts University, the United States. Balanced nutrition means a diet with balanced portions of staple food (source of carbohydrate), dishes (sources of protein and fat), vegetables and fruit, as well as drinking water.

By the standard of the Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) of Indonesia in 2014 that became an option in the food price calculator application of Tufts University, the proportion of Indonesian citizens incapable of buying nutritious food is shrinking because of the lower nutritional standard.

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By referring to the 2014 RDA nutritional standard, the population percentage incapable of buying healthy food declined from 68 percent in the HDB version to 57 percent of the Indonesian population or 155 million.

Kompas analysis results are not far different from the FAO analysis in 2021, indicating that 69.1 percent of Indonesians could not afford to buy nutritious food. Nevertheless, the FAO record is worth noting that in Indonesia the proportion of people who cannot afford to buy nutritious food is improving compared with the condition 4 years earlier.

In 2017 the proportion of people incapable of buying healthy food reached 70.7 percent. It improved in 2018 (68.9 percent) and 2019 (67.3 percent). However, it again increased to 69.1 percent due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The FAO report also shows that Indonesia has the highest price of nutritious food compared with those in neighboring countries in Southeast Asia by taking account of the purchasing power of their people. By calculating the purchasing power parity (PPP), the nutritious food price in Indonesia has reached around Rp 69,000 per day. It was higher than among others Thailand ($ 4.3), the Philippines ($ 4.1), Vietnam ($ 4) and Malaysia ($ 3.5).

SATRIO PANGARSO WISANGGENI

Daniel Dita Dawa (54) met at his house in Kodi, Southwest Sumba, East Nusa Tenggara, on Thursday (11/10/2022). Weak economic conditions meant that Daniel and his family of seven rarely ate nutritious food.

NTT and North Maluku

By comparing food commodity prices recorded by Statistics Indonesia (BPS) in 2021, nutritious food costs all over Indonesia can be found. The highest price was listed in North Maluku Utara at Rp 26,050 per day or Rp 3,924 higher than the national average of Rp 22,126.

This high cost had the impact of depriving the majority of its population of the ability to buy nutritious food. By combining population spending data from the BPS, 80 percent of the population of North Maluku was unable to buy nutritious food. This proportion was the second largest in Indonesia.

East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) had the largest proportion of people incapable of buying nutritious food. It was recorded at 86 percent or 4.8 million of its 5.5 million population. The cost of nutritious food in NTT was also above the national average, reaching Rp 23,126 per day.

It’s just the challenge we face in the National Food Agency,

For a population with low income, consuming nutritionally balanced food is a luxury. Head of the National Food Agency, Arief Prasetyo, when visited on Wednesday (26/10/2022), acknowledged the presence of a big problem with nutritious food accessibility in Indonesia.

“It’s just the challenge we face in the National Food Agency,” he said.

Arief added that for access to nutritious food, people do not necessarily have to buy it. In his opinion, people can start by benefiting from their own garden as their source of food.

Supply chain

Head of the NTT Agriculture and Food Crop Office Lecky Frederich Koli is aware that poverty makes local people unable to buy nutritious food. “The economy is the main problem. Lots of people cannot afford to buy nutritionally balanced food,” said Lecky.

In North Maluku, apart from the economic factor, its geographic condition prevents residents from obtaining nutritious and inexpensive food. Head of the North Maluku Food Resilience Office, Dheny Tjan, said the accessibility of food in villages was still low because local markets were not evenly distributed there and were only found in regency capitals.

Kompas analysis results have found that prices in eastern Indonesia tend to be higher than in major cities in Java and Bali. Even if compared with the commodity price data in 2005, there has been no significant reduction of price disparity.

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Based on the BPS data in 2005, rice prices in several provincial capitals in eastern Indonesia like Papua and Maluku were 10 percent higher than those in Java and Bali. In 2021, the difference increased by 13 percent.

According to the coordinator of the People’s Coalition for Food Sovereignty, Ayip Said Abdullah, the high price disparity between Java and non-Java regions is caused by the distribution system of the supply chain that is not yet established. A well-arranged supply chain will be able to reduce the impact of Indonesia’s food production that is uneven and causes price fluctuations. Public access to certain food commodities thus becomes unlimited.

“Do we have a national road map of the food supply chain? Without the map, we have some doubt if this condition will ever change,” said Ayip.

This article was translated by Aris Prawira.