Jakarta. President Prabowo Subianto said Friday that the private sector shouldn’t handle agriculture alone, as Jakarta wants its ASEAN neighbors to follow its footsteps in maintaining government intervention in food supplies.

Prabowo was addressing his Southeast Asian counterparts at the ASEAN meeting in Cebu, as members put on their thinking caps for the implications of the Iran clashes. The war has put global food security at risk, as Iran's blockade of the Strait of Hormuz drags on. One-third of the world’s fertilizers transit through this narrow waterway. Members are also keeping their guard up in the face of the drier season of El Niño.

The leaders’ talks were not open for media coverage. However, a transcript of Prabowo’s speech -- shared by the Foreign Ministry -- showed that his speech had put quite a strong emphasis on food security.

“Food security is about government leadership, government intervention. Indonesia does not believe that agriculture should be left only to the private sector. Agriculture is too important,” Prabowo told the forum.

“For us, it is the primary responsibility of the government.”

The ex-army general went on to say that the government would take “full responsibility and sovereignty over this vital sector”.

“Without food, basically, there is no society. Without food, there is no independence. Without food, there is no peace.” 

The Prabowo administration has kept its 20-percent cut on subsidized fertilizer prices despite the global crisis. Indonesia is also keeping food supplies in check via Danantara. The sovereign wealth fund now controls all the country’s state-owned enterprises, including those doing business in the agricultural sector, such as Agrinas Pangan Nusantara and ID Food. 

At home, Indonesia is dishing out government-funded meals to the country’s kids and pregnant women as part of a nationwide drive to improve nutritional intake. The government, however, not long ago caught flak for slashing the meat import quota for private companies, while giving the lion’s share to state-owned firms.

Region-wise, Prabowo encouraged the “streamlining” of the so-called ASEAN Plus Three Emergency Rice Reserve (APTERR). This mechanism united the 10 early ASEAN members, Japan, China, and South Korea to jointly stockpile rice -- a staple food in Asia -- to be used in times of shortages. Timor-Leste had yet joined the ASEAN club when the group launched the program. Jakarta also urged members to set aside locally produced food for emergency preparedness.

Later that day, the group rolled out an ASEAN leaders' statement on the Middle East crisis response. The nine-point document wrote that members had a "shared resolve" to explore the utilization of all APTERR mechanisms.