Jakarta. Agricultural expert Dwi Andreas Santosa recently revealed ways on how Indonesia could achieve food security, citing improving farmers’ welfare as one of the things that could enable the country feed its people easily.

According to Dwi, food security is not a pipe dream as long as the government --both the incumbent and incoming-- are serious about addressing the existing agricultural problems. 

For starters, the government needs to improve the farmers’ welfare. Dwi said Indonesia was already on the right track as the National Food Agency (Bapanas) had already raised the government purchasing price since 2023. Another strategy that could pave the way for food security is for Indonesia to make better use of its land.

“How can we optimize our land use? We need to study the existing gaps, and approach the problem from there. We still have the potential to boost production with the existing land today,” Dwi said on Monday.

Climate change also still serves as one of the biggest challenges to Indonesia’s food security dream, and this is something that the government needs to pay attention to, according to Dwi. The government has made some efforts to ensure water availability during droughts, among others, through the construction of reservoris and other infrastructure facilities.

“Another strategy [for food security] is improving productivity. Our [agricultural] productivity remains relatively stagnant,” Dwi said, while calling for the government to intensify research and development particularly for seeds.

“But of course we cannot just rely on universities or research institutions to develop these seeds. We need to facilitate farmers to be able to develop seeds or seedlings or new plant varieties. Because farmers hold the greatest potential for development,” Dwi said.

Last but not least, Indonesia needs to tackle its pest problem. Crop rotation and integrated pest control should be able to help Indonesia to get rid of its pests, according to Dwi.