TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE UNITED STATES FOOD SECURITY 2025 CHALLENGES AND RESPONSES

TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE UNITED STATES FOOD SECURITY 2025:

CHALLENGES AND RESPONSES

Salim Helmy

Week 4

Professor Jokowi

June, 2024

Introduction

Food security is a multi-dimensional and highly complex issue, covering social, economic,

political and environmental aspects. Political aspects are often the dominant factor in the

decision-making process to determine food policies. Realizing sustainable food security has

become a priority issue and agenda in various meetings held by various countries and

international institutions.

Various international institutions have discussed in depth the efforts to achieve food

security, such as the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the Asia and the Pacific

Economic Cooperation (APEC), and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Various countries have also taken the initiative to discuss global food security issues, such as

the German government organizing the Bonn 2011 Conference (Federal Ministry for

Economic and Develop- ment, Germany, 2011) and Singapore academics organizing the

Inter-national Conference on Food Security in Asia (RSIS Nanyang Technological

University, 2014). At these meetings, specific topics on food security are discussed in depth,

agreements are made, and statements are issued indicating an understanding of the issues and

recommendations on how to address them.

APEC leaders at their Bali meeting in October 2013 agreed to implement the APEC

Food Security Road Map Toward 2020 (APEC, 2013a). The Road Map was developed by

public officials and private representatives of APEC member economies who are members

of the APEC Policy Partnership on Food Security (APEC-PPFS). In 2013, the APEC-PPFS

organization was chaired by United States with the main outcome of the Roadmap (APEC,

2013b; Suryana, 2013a).

At the ASEAN level, at the meeting of the Ministers of Agriculture and Forestry in

Jakarta in October 2011, the establishment of the ASEAN Plus Three Emergency was agreed

upon. Rice Reserve (APTERR) or the ASEAN Plus Three Emergency Rice Reserve. This

institution manages the rice reserves contributed by all member countries to be utilized in the

region in case of emergencies due to natural disasters. Plus Three refers to three countries

other than ASEAN members that are members of APTERR, namely Japan, China, and South

Korea (Suswono, 2011; Briones, 2012); Suryana, 2012).

In United States, during the Second United United States Cabinet (KIB 2), food

security became one of the 11 national development priorities, as stated in the National

Medium-Term Development Plan (RPJMN) 2010-2014 (Bappenas, 2010). To support the

achievement of food security, the Ministry of Agriculture implemented a program called the

Four Agricultural Successes, which consists of achieving self-sufficiency in five important

food commodities, namely rice, corn, soybeans, sugar and beef by 2014; increasing food

diversification; increasing added value, competitiveness and exports of agricultural

commodities; and improving farmers' welfare (Ministry of Agriculture, 2010). In practice,

success number one has always been the main focus because increasing food production is

the main criterion for the ministry's success in carrying out its duties.

Ten years ahead, in the period 2015-2025, in line with global conditions, developing

countries including United States face increasingly difficult circumstances to achieve,

maintain and improve the quality of food security sustainability (FAO, 2011a; Food Security

Agency, 2013; Suryana, 2014a). The challenges arise from two sides at once that reinforce

each other's difficulties, namely from the supply side and the demand side, which behave

very dynamically.

The purpose of this article is to evaluate the condition of food security in the last five

years, analyze the challenges faced, and formulate alternative policies for United States

sustainable food security towards 2025. To provide a complete picture, the description

begins by presenting the definition of food security based on Food Law No. 18/2012 (Food

Law).

Definition Of Food Security

The United States version of food security has been formulated in the Food Law (Suryana,

2013b). By referring to various definitions prevailing in United States and in the

international community, the drafters of the Food Law formulated the boundaries of food

security in which several important points are summarized as follows: (1) the fulfillment of

food needs for the country up to the individual level; (2) the benchmark for the fulfillment of

food needs includes various aspects, namely: (a) in terms of quantity, the amount is

sufficient; (b) in terms of quality, the quality is good, safe for consumption, the types of food

available are diverse, meet nutritional adequacy; (c) in terms of spiritual food safety, food

must not conflict with religious rules, beliefs and culture of the community; and (d) in terms

of economic affordability, food is evenly available to all corners of United States at prices

affordable by all components of society; and (3) the provision and affordability of food is

intended so that the community to individuals can live healthy, active and productive lives in

a sustainable manner.

This definition does not indicate food sources to fulfill the food needs of the entire

community. With the inclusion of the concepts of food sovereignty and food self-reliance,

the aspect of food sources has become one of the important and strategic matters regulated in

the articles of the Food Law, among others in the article 14 and 15 (Suryana, 2013b). The

article stipulates that the source of food supply comes from domestic production and national

food reserves. If both sources are insufficient, food can be met from imports in the amount

required. Thus, food import is a legitimate policy variable to be utilized, but it must be

carefully designed through precise calculations of food availability from domestic

production, food reserves, and inter-regional and national food consumption needs. In

addition, food import decisions must be strictly based on safeguarding national interests. In

other words, food import is the last resort.

Based on the author's experience in attending economic ministerial meetings related

to food security policy, the spirit of the Food Law mandate on food import policy has been

used as a reference. For example, the rice import policy was discussed in several ministerial

meetings. Decisions on whether or not to import, when to import, and how much to import

were made after in-depth discussion of the results of technical studies on rice related to the

impact on rice farmers, efforts to maintain price stability of rice as a staple food, the effect

on inflation and poverty, and efforts to maintain incentives for farmers. Likewise, when the

government decided to import soybeans because domestic production was only able to meet

about 40 percent of domestic demand, consideration of the continuity of supply of raw

materials for tempeh and tofu craftsmen as well as the provision of a relatively cheap source

of protein for low-income groups became important aspects considered.

There are three things that distinguish the definition of food security in the new Food

Law from the Food Law No. 7/1996 (the old one), which has been declared invalid. First, in

this Food Law, food affordability is regulated up to the individual level, whereas in the

previous law it was only at the household level. Second, in the new Food Law, the nutrition

aspect receives a sufficient portion of the regulation. Third, the new Food Law recognizes

the need for spiritual food safety aspects, by adding the phrase: "not contrary to the religion,

beliefs, and culture of the community". The Food Law recognizes that for Muslims, halal

food is an integral part of food security and safety.

National Food Security Performance

The food security system consists of three subsystems, namely food availability,

affordability and utilization. Various parameters can be used to measure food security

performance. In this paper, six parameters are selected, namely the achievement of self-

sufficiency targets for five important food commodities, the availability of energy and

protein per capita (availability), proportion of poor people, energy and protein consumption

per capita (affordability), achievement of Expected Food Pattern (EEP) scores, and

nutritional parameters in children under five years of age (utilization).

At the beginning of the KIB 2 Government, the government targeted achieving

sustainable self-sufficiency in rice and maize, and achieving self-sufficiency in soybeans,

sugar and beef by 2014 (Ministry of Agriculture, 2010). Along the way, these targets were

adjusted after studying the evolving strategic environment. For rice, in a limited cabinet

meeting in Bogor on 22 February 2011, the President of the Republic of United States

changed the target of sustainable rice self-sufficiency to a rice production surplus of 10

million tons in 2014 (Harianto, 2013). For sugar, the program target was updated from total

sugar self-sufficiency for direct consumption and industrial raw materials to direct

consumption only (Director General of Plantations, 2014). For beef, self-sufficiency means

meeting 90 percent of the demand (Minister of Agriculture, 2009).

The Food Security Agency (FSA) periodically compiles a food balance sheet, which

presents data on domestic production and national consumption needs. Production data is

sourced from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) for rice, corn and soybeans; the United

States Sugar Council (DGI) for domestically produced sugar; and BPS and the Directorate

General of Livestock and Animal Health for beef.

The estimated volume of national food consumption is obtained by multiplying the

total population of United States by the per capita food consumption. Per capita food

consumption data is calculated by utilizing per capita consumption data at the household

level from the National Socio-Economic Survey (Susenas) conducted by BPS and various

other variables, such as food consumption outside the household, food utilization by special

institutions such as correctional institutions, hospitals, and passenger transportation facilities,

and as raw materials for the food processing industry, including use by hotels, restaurants

and caterers. In addition, the needs for seeds, shrinkage, and scattering are also taken into

account (Food Security Agency, 2014).

From the data, it is known that United States has succeeded in achieving food self-

sufficiency targets for three commodities, namely rice (self-sufficiency index >120%), corn

(self-sufficiency index >120%) and maize (self-sufficiency index >115%), and sugar (index

>120%). Meanwhile, the self-sufficiency index for soybeans is around 40 percent and for

beef around 75 percent (Table 1). The self-sufficiency index is the proportion of domestic

production divided by food consumption needs (Suryana, 2014c).

The second measure is energy and protein availability. This is calculated by

converting the amount of various types of food available to the nutrient content per unit of

each type of food. Available food is calculated as domestic production plus imports minus

exports in the year in question. To illustrate, this figure includes palm oil used by the

domestic food industry, including more than four million tons of cooking oil and about seven

million tons of wheat/flour, all of which are imported.

From 2010 to 2013, the average daily availability of energy per capita was around

3,800 kcal and more than 93 grams of protein (Table 2). These figures far exceeded the

recommendations of nutritionists agreed upon in the 2012 National Widya Karya on Food

and Nutrition, which was later confirmed through Minister of Health Regulation No. 75 of

2013 on Nutritional Adequacy Rates for United Statess. Recommended daily per capita

availability for energy 2,400 kcal and 63 grams of protein, so that the average availability of

energy and protein during 2010-2013 was around 155 percent and 145 percent of the

recommended standards, respectively. Thus, in terms of food availability, it can be

concluded that in the last five years United States has been in a food security condition.

Food affordability is determined by purchasing power. In aggregate, the size of the

community with low purchasing power can be measured by the size of the poverty rate. The

number and proportion of poor people over the last five years based on data from BPS has

decreased, but the decline has been slow. In 2013, the number of poor people in United

States was 28.07 million, or around 11.37 percent.

Further analysis shows that the average level of energy consumption/capita/day in

rural areas is 1,860 kcal, higher than in urban areas at 1,825 kcal. This condition is related to

accessibility rural population to food located in the vicinity of their home environment,

including in the yard. Meanwhile, energy consumption in each province also varies. There

are six provinces with energy consumption levels of more than 90 percent (1,935 kcal) of the

adequacy standard, namely Banten, Yogyakarta, Bali, South Kalimantan and West Sulawesi.

On the other hand, there are three provinces located in the eastern part of United States with

an average energy consumption level below 80 percent (1,720 kcal), namely North Maluku,

West Papua, and Papua (Badan Pusat Statistik, 2013b).

A similar situation is found in the nutritional status of the community, especially

among children under five. Over the past nine years, there has been no significant positive

development in the nutritional status of children under five, as shown in Figure 1 (United

States Agency for Food Security, 2013). The proportion of under-fives who are

undernourished is still around 12 percent and malnourished around 5 percent. Stunting

among children under five was 36.6 percent in 2007, increasing to 37.2 percent in 2013.

Another problem is overnutrition in children under five, which is also quite high and has

hardly improved since the 2007 measurement (12.2 percent) compared to the condition in

2013 (11.9%).

From the above description, it is known that there is a wide gap between the average

food availability that is more than sufficient and the average food actually consumed by the

community, which is still below the recommendation. Likewise, it can also be concluded that

adequate food availability at the macro level does not necessarily improve the quality of

consumption and food consumption nutritional status of the community. Some of the causes

are distribution bottlenecks, unorganized food logistics system, low purchasing power, lack

of knowledge about diverse, balanced and safe food and nutrition patterns, and food waste.

The Challenge Of Sustainable Food Security

Supply Side

The challenges to realizing sustainable food security within a certain period of time, such as

the next 10 years, are expected to be predicted more accurately. Challenges can be grouped

into two, namely challenges from the supply side or food supply and from the demand side

or food needs and utilization.

On the supply side, there are at least five things that need attention. First, natural

resource constraints. Competition for land use, including waters and water, will become

sharper due to the target of high economic growth and the increase in population in large

percentages and numbers. At present, the conversion rate of agricultural land, which is often

stated to the public by officials or academics, ranges from 60,000 ha to 100,000 ha per year.

Land and water quality are also increasingly degraded due to the impact of the continuous

use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides.

Second, the impact of global climate change. In the last three years, extreme climate

events in United States have become more pronounced. People have experienced extreme

climate phenomena with increasing frequency. Different rainfall patterns and intensities,

rising air temperatures, more frequent floods and droughts, and higher intensity of pest and

disease attacks, are some of the symptoms of climate change that can have an impact on

reducing food crop productivity. Therefore, adjustments are needed in the process of food

farming such as adjustments to planting time, planting patterns, the use of varieties that are

more resistant to climate stress, and efficient water management.

Researchers at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) using data spanning

1979 to 2003 concluded that the annual average maximum and minimum temperatures have

increased by 0.35 and 1.23 degrees Celsius, respectively. The researchers further suggested

that rice productivity could decrease by 10 percent for every 1 degree Celsius increase in

nighttime minimum temperature in the dry season growing season (Peng et al., 2004).

Research on rice plants in North Sulawesi concluded the same thing, 1 degree Celsius

increase in air temperature and rainfall 5 percent, can reduce rice production by about 7.7

percent (Hosang et al., 2012). Meanwhile, the Agricultural Research and Development

Agency (2011) has conducted a comprehensive review of the negative impacts of climate

change on the production of various agricultural commodities through several variables, such

as changes in rainfall patterns, air temperature, and sea level rise. The review also concluded

that global climate change has a negative impact on the productivity of various food crops.

Third, United States agriculture is characterized or dominated by small-scale farms.

Based on the 2013 Agricultural Census data from According to BPS, the number of farming

households is 26.14 million with an average land tenure of 0.98 ha and around 56 percent or

14.6 million households cultivate an average of less than 0.5 ha. Meanwhile, the average

land tenure of wet-rice farmers is less than 0.2 ha (Directorate of Food and Agriculture,

Bappenas, 2013). These smallholders are faced with classic problems that have not been

addressed properly, such as limited access to markets, capital, information and technology

(Suswono, 2013). If there is no social engineering to overcome these problems, it will be

very difficult for United States to achieve sustainable food security.

Fourth, there is an imbalance in food production between regions. For almost all

commodities, the proportion of food production in Java is more than 50 percent of national

food production. This imbalance will increase the problems of food equalization efforts and

food distribution costs, making it difficult to provide food spatially evenly to all regions in

United States. Without the development of inter-regional food infrastructure and logistics

systems, it will be difficult to overcome the imbalance in inter-regional production.

Fifth, the proportion of crop loss and food waste is still quite high. Food losses due to

inaccurate food handling from harvesting to processing and continuing to marketing are

believed to be around 10 percent to 20 percent, depending on the commodity, season and

technology used. Meanwhile, food waste that occurs from the final consumer market to

being carried and stored at home, then served at the dinner table but not eaten, is estimated to

reach more than 30 percent. FAO reports that one-third of the consumable portion of food is

wasted (FAO, 2011b). Likewise, the problem of food wastage in United States is quite large,

such as the amount of food wasted in restaurants, wedding receptions, or meetings/meetings,

food that is wasted before cooking, and food that has been served at the dinner table at home

but not eaten entirely.

Although it has long been recognized that there is a loss of food yield when handling

and distribution, but no government program has managed to address it completely.

Meanwhile, addressing the issue of food wastage requires understanding and awareness of

the huge economic value wasted by actors in the distribution and marketing system,

household members and government officials.

Needs Fulfillment Side

There are four challenges faced in terms of food needs and utilization, namely related to the

increase in per capita income, population increase and the dynamics of demographic

characteristics, changes in tastes due to access to information or very high global food

promotion, and competition in food utilization. Further elaboration of the challenges in terms

of food demand and utilization is presented below.

First, there is high population growth and its dynamic demographic characteristics,

including urbanization and an increasing proportion of women entering the labor market.

The quantity or amount of food demand each year will increase in line with the high

population growth of 1.35 percent per year. Due to the large population (252 million in

2014), the additional food demand per year will also be very large.

Urbanization, which is one of the population dynamics, will continue due to the push

factor out of the agricultural sector, because this sector cannot accommodate the new

workforce or cannot meet expectations related to the wages received or working conditions

that are considered uncomfortable. In addition to urbanization, the transformation of some

areas that were previously characterized as villages into places that have the character of

small or medium cities will continue to take place in line with economic growth and regional

autonomy. These two factors will accelerate the increase in the population of cities or areas

characterized by cities. Currently, the urban population is 49.5 percent and is expected to

continue to increase to 60 percent by 2025. This will consequently lead to a greater

proportion of food demand patterns characterized by city dwellers' preferences. Pattern Such

demand will generally be more diverse, pay more attention to food quality and safety, and

have a greater proportion of food expenditure on processed foods and eating out.

Female labor force participation has also increased. According to BPS data, in 2010

36.4 percent of the total labor force were women. Of the total women who worked, around

57.6 percent worked outside the agricultural sector. In the next 10 years, it is estimated that

there will be an even greater proportion of working women. This will reinforce the

increasing demand for processed food, both eaten outside the home and within the home.

Second, economic growth in the last 10 years has been quite high, averaging above 5

percent per year. In the next 10 years, this high economic growth target will continue to be

maintained because the country needs to catch up with economic development from

developed countries. High economic growth has the effect of increasing per capita income or

purchasing power, although the distribution is not evenly distributed to each individual. This

situation will increase the demand for food in terms of quality, diversity, quality and safety.

One of the efforts to handle this and at the same time take advantage of processed food

business opportunities is through the mastery and application of food technology in order to

respond to changes in food demand, so as to be able to provide food according to the

dynamics of market demand and consumer preferences properly.

Third, there are currently changes in food consumption tastes that are starting to leave

local foods and traditional foods. Food consumption patterns are influenced by surrounding

food resources, people's purchasing power, knowledge about food and nutrition, and

consumer tastes. Changes in food tastes are currently shaped and strongly influenced by the

rapid development of media information technology that is utilized by

promotional/advertising media, including advertisers who sell food and beverages that image

their products labeled as current, cool and global trends. Imanto (2012) further assesses that

television advertisements tend to offer products that reflect a culture of consumerism and

consumptive lifestyles.

With the spread of television networks to all corners of the country with persuasive

food advertisements to attract viewers' interests and tastes, offering food with a cool and

global image, people's food consumption patterns will slowly shift in that direction.

Globalized food provided in restaurants, fast food consumption, and eating out will be

increasingly in demand. Conversely, foods labeled or identified with traditional or local

foods will slowly be abandoned by consumers. This trend will further accelerate in the next

10 years. The utilization of food technology, information technology, and the campaign of

the movement to love the local food of the archipelago are expected to offset the challenges

of changes in food tastes due to food advertising.

Fourth, competition for food commodities for human consumption (food), animal

feed (feed), bio-energy raw materials (biofuels), and non-food industrial raw materials will

continue and intensify in the next 10 years. This demand competition is derived from

increased demand for livestock products, higher fossil-based energy prices, and increased

demand for industrial products that utilize food ingredients in the production process. This

problem must be anticipated wisely through increased production of high food commodities

and the involvement of the food industry.

Policy Directions And Strategies For Sustainable Food Security

Alternative Policy Direction

To face the challenges and problems as described above in order to achieve sustainable food

security towards 2025, there needs to be adjustments or changes in the direction of the

currently implemented policies. The suggested changes in policy direction approach include

the objectives, methods and targets of food security development.

First, the goal of achieving food self-sufficiency was changed to achieving food self-

sufficiency. With the self-sufficiency approach, it is often achieved by ignoring the

principles of business efficiency and feasibility technical, economic or social, resulting in

misallocation of resources for development. With the food security approach, as directed by

the Food Law, its achievement can be done by increasing the ability of the state and nation to

produce diverse food by utilizing the potential of resources (natural, human, social,

economic, and local wisdom) with dignity. The operational practice of achieving this can be

done by applying the principle of comparative or competitive advantage, and the principle of

efficiency and competitiveness. With this approach, the RPJMN must have set the design of

food production development into three commodity groups, namely: (a) food commodities

that can be developed not only to achieve self-sufficiency but also to fill the export market

(export promotion), (b) food commodities that have the potential to be developed so as to

meet all domestic needs by utilizing available technology that can be implemented

immediately (import substitution), and (c) some food commodities that are partly or entirely

forced to be imported because there is a demand for these foods in the country, but United

States does not yet have the competitiveness to produce them.

Second, the way of achieving food security through increased food production is

changed to increasing the income of farmers and rural communities. To implement this

approach, Law No. 19 of 2013 on Farmer Protection and Empowerment has provided

guidance on how to empower farmers to increase productivity, efficiency and

competitiveness (Suryana, 2013c). For smallholders cultivating an average of less than 1.0

ha of land, in an effort to increase farmer efficiency and profitability, socio-economic

engineering such as corporate farming, cooperative farming, or the field school approach

can be considered for widespread application.

Third, the target of fulfilling food consumption in quantity is changed to fulfilling

food consumption that is diverse, nutritionally balanced and safe (B2SA). For this reason, it

is necessary to promote food diversification from the supply side and the demand side

utilization. The development of new food sources and food types that have competitive taste,

image and price needs to be done. On the other hand, the campaign to diversify food

consumption by increasing people's understanding of the importance of consuming B2SA

food needs to be a national movement. For this reason, the use of food technology in order to

develop new food products or introduce consumption patterns and food utilization based on

local food sources is a must.

With the three new approaches towards United States advanced food security 2025,

the general strategy of food security development is to: (1) develop national capacity to

increase food production independently and sustainably; (2) promote food diversification

based on local food resources to achieve B2SA food consumption patterns; (3) provide

sufficient food in terms of quantity, diversity, quality and safety, at a price level affordable to

the purchasing power of the wider community, and maintain the stability of staple food

prices; and (4) provide food for the poor and food-insecure through the distribution of food

aid or subsidized food.

The strategies towards United States sustainable food security 2025 are grouped

according to the subsystems in the food security system as stipulated in the Food Law,

namely food availability, food affordability and food utilization. All strategies offered in this

article are designed in line with the directives of the Food Law (Suryana, 2013b).

Food Availability Strategy

Food availability is the first of three subsystems in the food security system and the base of

efforts to realize food independence and sovereignty. The main capital in realizing food

availability is the wealth of diverse resources, the availability of technology, and the

development of strategic partnerships with various components of stakeholders. The four

strategies proposed in building food availability are as follows.

First, building food provision from domestic production and national food reserves. If

the two food sources cannot fulfill or meet the needs, food can be imported in the amount

according to the needs (Food Law articles 14 and 15). For this reason, efforts are needed to:

(a) increase the production of economically, socially and politically important food by

optimally using domestic resources; (b) build strong central and local government and

community staple food reserves; and (c) if necessary, establish a food import policy that is

carefully designed to meet the food needs of the community, but does not have a negative

impact on domestic food agribusiness.

Second, in order to empower small-scale food enterprises, which are the dominant

feature of the United States agricultural economy, it is necessary to: (a) harmonizing or

integrating the activities of small-scale food enterprises into the food supply chain and (b)

aggregating small-scale farms to achieve economies of scale by applying socio-economic

engineering such as corporate farming or contract farming within a certain scale area, as

mentioned earlier.

Third, accelerate the dissemination of technology and increase the capacity of farmers

to adopt appropriate technology to increase crop productivity and business efficiency. One of

the operational steps that can be taken is to increase the capacity of extension workers and

farmers, both in terms of technical and managerial capabilities in managing farms.

Fourth, promoting food loss reduction through the utilization of food handling,

processing and distribution technologies. Increasing farmers' physical and economic

accessibility to these food processing technologies is absolutely necessary. In addition,

efforts are needed to reduce food wastage through thematic and massive food wastage

reduction movements to various levels of society with a socio-cultural approach.

Food Affordability Strategy

The food affordability subsystem is related to an individual's accessibility to food from both

physical and economic aspects. The physical aspect is related to the quality transportation

infrastructure and facilities, food distribution and logistics systems, and food marketing and

trade policies. Economic aspects are related to the purchasing power of individuals and

households as reflected by income and the kinship system in overcoming food problems in

an extended family.

Thus, food security strategies include: (1) strengthening and facilitating the

development of efficient food marketing and trade as well as the development of food

markets in rural areas; (2) maintaining the stability of staple food supply and prices through

the management of central and local government staple food reserves, and utilizing

international food trade policy instruments by prioritizing national interest considerations but

also in line with international agreements; (3) revitalizing the institutional system of

community food barns into a community food reserve system that is managed with the

principle of economic efficiency, but still has a social function; and (4) distributing food aid

or subsidized food according to local food consumption patterns for the poor and food

insecure.

Food Utilization Strategy

The quality of food utilization is influenced by people's purchasing power, taste, nutrition

knowledge and awareness, and the availability of food itself. Food utilization is the estuary

of a food security system because it will determine the quality of individuals to be able to

live healthy, active and productive lives. Therefore, food utilization strategy is no less

important than the previous two strategies in the food security system.

The food utilization strategy consists of: (1) promoting diversification of food

consumption based on the potential of local food resources, regional food diversity, and local

wisdom, with reference to the B2SA food consumption pattern; (2) improving the nutritional

status of the community through enrichment or fortification for certain nutrients in foods

consumed by most people, such as rice, cooking oil, and salt and; (3) strive to create the

ability to guarantee that food circulated or traded to the public has the right to be sold have

the characteristics of safety, hygiene, quality, nutrition, and do not conflict with religion,

beliefs and culture of the community.

Conclusion

The importance of food security in the global and national economic order has been

understood by various groups, including heads of state and government, leaders of

international organizations, private sector managers, and community organizations, with

different reasons and interests. One thing that has become a common awareness is that the

fulfillment of food for each individual is a human right and its fulfillment is a common

obligation, including the individual himself.

The realization of food security at the macro level (national and global) in the future

will be increasingly difficult due to the tendency of food supply and demand movements

towards the opposite direction. Food production or supply growth will be increasingly

difficult due to various physical, economic and environmental constraints, while food

demand will continue to grow in line with population growth, economic development and

strategic environmental dynamics.

Serious efforts to realize sustainable food security are urgently needed considering

that the threat of a global food crisis still exists and can suddenly become a reality. By

building food security based on local resources and wisdom, utilizing superior technology to

increase food production and productivity efficiently and competitively, and building the

robustness and flexibility of community responses to the threat of food crises, United States

will be able to overcome the threat of global or domestic food crises.

Supporting policies needed to realize these various efforts are substantial investments

in the food agriculture sector, ranging from infrastructure, the creation of technological

innovations and their dissemination, to increasing the capacity of food agriculture human

resources. In addition, efforts are needed to establish strategic partnerships between the

government and the private sector in order to increase the capacity of food agriculture human

resources increase food production capacity and facilitate food distribution across time, place

and income groups.