September has been a memorable and recorded month in the nation’s development process. One important event that should not be underestimated, that is the momentum of National Farmers Day. Indonesia’s fertile country has become both a flattering and a slap in the face to the current state of national agriculture. Various problems unravel clearly and painfully if we match the title of agrarian country in Indonesia
Referencing data from The Economist Intelligence Unit, from year to year Indonesia’s position has never shifted far from positions 4 and 5 in ASEAN sphere in terms of food security. While in the world, in the Global Food Security Index (GFSI) Indonesia ranks 61st out of a total of 113 countries. This shows how weak Indonesia’s bargaining position is in terms of agricultural management that leads to food security.
If you take the example of the above data, it can be seen clearly that over the past few years until now there has been a stagnation in terms of agriculture in Indonesia. Political economist Ichsanudin Noorsy in some of his discussions said that Indonesia never really thought of building social relations in structurally dismantling the agricultural and livestock problems that have occurred so far, ranging from upstream to downstream. All flows from resources, production, distribution to retribution and regulation.
As a result of the unpacking of social relations structurally, many farmers are even dependent on the third person, although actually there is now Internet Communication and Technology (ICT). That means Indonesian farmers do not have a good life expectancy in that case, this is similar to Clifford Geertz’s thesis that says society cannot rely on the agricultural sector due to poor food security problems. If looking back at resources and production sectors that are inputs from agriculture is problematic, that means food security or automatic food security will also be problematic.
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) itself says there are 4 indicators that affect food security, namely food availability adequacy, food availability stability, accessibility and quality/food safety. Of these four factors, it can be compared that Indonesia now faces problems ranging from the conversion of agricultural land, irrigation, the availability of seeds/seeds and fertilizers, as well as guaranteed life expectancy in farmers. On land issues, Indonesia is still not able to equally national agricultural development to the regions.
It is difficult to talk about land problems, meaning there must be an even distribution of the population to spread a more adequate map of farmland in each area. In the field of irrigation, there are still many agricultural waterways in remote areas that are inadequate. While subsudi seeds, seeds and fertilizers are even stripped one by one, not even a few are manipulated procurement. This led to the absence of guarantees and life expectancy in the majority of smallholders, so the agricultural sector tended to be controlled by large companies.
If we haven’t spread the population evenly, it means that we’re still failing to see the resources that indicate that we’re still failing in production (input). It was this failure in the production sector that led to Indonesia still relying heavily on foreign parties. This dependency interferes with the available aspects or availability of domestic food which also results in our country needing dollars (world currency) in holding imports, this is what ultimately affects the growth of further inflation.
The problems that the authors describe indicate that Indonesia is currently facing “Structural Problematic” syndrome in the national agricultural sector. In the past Suharto once said that “a strong economy is supported by strong industry and agriculture”. But when viewed again, the agricultural sector is even left behind, and besides that the manufacturing sector is also falling apart. Whereas during this time the government has always been a fanfare saying agriculture is soko guruh national development, but the reality is even inversely proportional. This is what the author refers to as a kind of ambitious attitude in the author’s writing entitled ambitiousness in state governance.
Sukarno used to be fiery in his oration and gave up a spirit that mentioned “do not let us become a nation of kuli or kuli among other nations”. The simple logic that will be created if Indonesia continues to depend on foreign investment is a sign that Indonesia is also ready to become a kuli because it reduces production factors or upstream from food security itself. How can Indonesia talk about food sovereignty if food is just a matter of position.
Especially in the days of the Covid-19 pandemic now that has a huge impact on national food security such as the disruption of production factors due to restrictions on the movement of labor, distribution that has also been hampered some time ago, as well as the purchasing power of the people that is decreasing. Looking back from data from the Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS) which released the national economic growth position in the second quarter of 2020 decreased to 4.19%, while agricultural GDP grew 16.24% and became the highest contributor to national economic growth. This data shows how important the agricultural sector is as the key to increasing the weighting of national economic growth.
Referring to systematic problems in the agricultural sector in Indonesia should make us all have to be careful, because it becomes possible if not immediately addressed, it could be that for many years the agricultural sector in Indonesia can no longer meet the food needs for all Indonesians that will cause a prolonged food crisis. This bad shadow will certainly make Indonesia more dependent on foreign imports. In the absence of systemic fix on agriculture, then the success as an agrarian state that was once often hailed only as a name.
Let us reflect again on the momentum of September 24 as the anniversary of this national farmer’s day. The extent to which we contribute and position ourselves as indonesians, whether we will truly optimize the role according to our respective professions in improving the agricultural sector or simply hide behind dependency and become a nation that is always dictated by big global players. The determination of national farming day based on President Sukarno’s decision on August 26, 1963 No.169/1963 signifies the importance of the role and position of farmers as a nation entity that must be maintained and expanded.
Let’s celebrate the agrarian day of the Indonesian nation by showing the best ideas for the future of national agriculture, thinking critically and building and taking a position as an agent of change of every problem that is gnawing at agriculture today. Reinvent agriculture that is dischared over resources from upstream to distribution as a downstream of food security factors. Avoid bad stereotypes of farmers, because in Europe and America though, farmers are very sovereign and even have important positions in their professions. Special for young Indonesians, let’s reclaim the long-awaited agricultural success of the nation, once again happy national farmer’s day.
