Governement expects food self-sufficiency in 2018

Food self-sufficiency is expected to be realized in 2018, and there will be no imports in 2016, Vice President Jusuf Kalla asserted.

“Food-sufficiency is expected to be realized within three years for which the efforts have started a year ago,” Kalla said here Friday.

In order to reach the target several steps have been implemented, including improvement of irrigation methods, and seedling and fertilizer preparation, he added.

Food security and resilience have been an issue for Indonesia for some time now. It was once a major rice exporter in Asia but is now relying quite heavily on rice imports to meet peoples staple food requirements.

Food security is also an important social objective.

Therefore, relying on food markets outside the country in order to meet the needs of Indonesias growing population is critical.