global food crisis, including in Indonesia. Minister of Agriculture Andi Amran Sulaiman has emphasized that the threat of a food crisis is an important thing to watch out for together with Acting Minister of Agriculture Dedi Nursyamsi. Dedi Nursyamsi, Head of the Agricultural Extension and Human Resources Development Agency of the Ministry of Agriculture during his working visit in West Papua, urged that food production, especially rice, must be increased to achieve self-sufficiency.
In the Coordination Meeting of Agricultural Area Expansion of West Papua Province organized by the Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Indonesia through BPPSDMP Kementan, Dedi explained that climate change has a significant impact on agricultural yields in Indonesia. In addition to affecting productivity, climate change also increases the attack of pests and plant diseases, however, he expressed his gratitude that West Papua has so far been spared from pests and diseases that harm food crops, “West Papua should be grateful because until now it has not been affected by pests and diseases, but we must remain vigilant and prepare prevention strategies,” he said.
Dedi revealed that Indonesia experienced a rice deficit of 1 million tons for domestic consumption in 2023, this was triggered by the global food crisis caused by climate change and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, “this food crisis was also triggered by the inefficiency of rice absorption from farmers by Bulog, so that farmers had difficulty meeting the needs of rice consumption,” said Dedi.
To overcome the food crisis, Dedi emphasized the importance of food self-sufficiency in Indonesia, including West Papua, “we must be able to get rice from our own sweat, from our own farmers, from our own rice fields,” said Dedi.
Dedi assessed that West Papua has great potential to achieve food self-sufficiency, but this potential must be maximized, “we must boost agricultural productivity in West Papua. The most important thing is good coordination from the Provincial Agriculture Office, all district agriculture offices, to the lowest level, including BPP and Babinsa,” said Dedi.
West Papua Regional Secretary, Jacob Fonataba on that occasion admitted, West Papua is currently food dependent in West Papua which is still high. For this reason, it is necessary to increase local food production, “we are still very dependent on food from outside West Papua, our production is low,” Jacob said.
Jacob also reported on the “two days no rice” program in West Papua which aims to reduce dependence on rice, “currently, 80 percent of the rice consumed by West Papuans comes from outside and with a population of 561 thousand people, this is a serious problem that we must immediately anticipate,” Jacob added.
According to the Regional Secretary, if rice production areas cannot supply rice, there will be a food crisis in West Papua. In line with the direction of the Acting Governor of West Papua, the Regional Secretary also said that the provincial government is working on a 6-hectare garden in the Susweni area, Manokwari, which is done by the West Papua State Civil Apparatus (ASN), “the goal is not to divert people’s jobs, but to create models and market interventions,” said the Regional Secretary.
The Regional Secretary added that this program also aims to reduce the inflation rate which currently reaches 3.86%.