By Jacqui De Lacy, Minister-Counsellor AusAID, Jakarta
While Indonesia is succeeding in reducing poverty, it is still an enormous challenge. Over one third of Indonesian children are stunted due to inadequate nutrition. Around 120 million Indonesians live on less than $2 day. They spend the bulk of this money on food. This means that even small movements in food prices can have devastating impacts.
Improving rural growth is critical for equitable development across Indonesia (photo by Josh Estey).
Many of these people live in rural areas and work as agricultural labourers to make a living. But while they might grow rice or other crops each day, what they bring home is barely enough to feed their own families.
Changing weather patterns, increased demand for food crops globally and vulnerability to natural disasters is pushing up food prices. Food security is therefore a major challenge for Indonesia and Australia is helping them address that challenge.
We have made a good start. We have helped increase agricultural productivity through research and development. We have built infrastructure, such as bridges and roads to help farmers get their produce to market.
We teach farmers about climate change and help local communities better protect their environment. We provide revolving loans to women’s groups so they can expand their small businesses and earn extra income for their families. And we are proud to be contributing to a range of social protection programs that assist communities in lean times and provide extra resources to the poorest and most vulnerable.
It is very rewarding to get out of Jakarta and see these programs in action. The people I meet have often struggled to pay for the essentials in life but with our support are now making enough money for things that we take for granted, like eating protein and sending their children to school.
We are proud of Australia’s work so far, but there is much more to do.
While international food prices came down after 2008, they have been increasing again since 2010 and are now almost back at 2008 levels. Recently Indonesian Vice-President Boediono warned that “… a food crisis looms on the horizon for Indonesia.”
In November in Bali following the East Asia Summit, Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono announced a new six year Australia-Indonesia Rural Development Program.
This program shows our commitment to strengthening Indonesia’s food security. It builds on our previous support and takes it to a new level. It is much more ambitious in terms of reach – around one million poor Indonesian farmers will be able to increase their incomes by at least 30 per cent over the next ten years because of our support. Many of these farmers are women.We will work in the poorest parts of Indonesia, like Papua, West Papua, East and West Nusa Tenggara, and East Java.
This program also recognises that there are a range of issues that prevent poor farmers from earning more – poor cultivation techniques; poor seeds and storage facilities; lack of access to fertiliser and pest control techniques; poor price information, low farmer literacy and numeracy; lack of access to credit; and poor regulation and infrastructure. Instead of working on just one or two of these issues, this program will work on all of them with the support of farmers, industry and local government.
More productive farms will lead to significant poverty reduction. Growth in the agricultural sector is four to six times more effective in reducing poverty than growth outside that sector.
Farms dominate the landscape across this vast and beautiful archipelago – so helping to create sustainable livelihoods for Indonesian farmers goes hand-in-hand with poverty reduction and better food security.
Jacqui I certainly agree with you about the importance of agricultural development, however I think that your statement that “Growth in the agricultural sector is four to six times more effective in reducing poverty than growth outside that sector.” is probably overstepping what we know. It is probably more accurate to say something like “Evidence suggests that growth in the agricultural sector can be four to six times more effective in reducing poverty when ……
While the importance of agricultural development in low and middle income countries is generally accepted, my understanding is that its relative effect on poverty reduction when compared with other forms of economic growth is not as clear as you imply.
Thanks for the dialogue so far on what is an important and fundamental issue in the international development debate.
Food security is a bottom of the pyramid issue which has for many years been understated in the development debate following the success of the green revolution. Without food security individuals, families, communities and societies make trade-offs against choices they might otherwise make if they were not food insecure. Without food security, education, health, governance, and other building blocks of development can fall away as people focus all their attentions on feeding their families and themselves.
Following the release of Australia’s aid policy (2011) AusAID published a number of thematic strategies on its website. These strategies related to key themes in the aid program including health, education, governance, gender and food security. The strategy on food security can be found here.
While we may contest the various impacts of agricultural development over other areas of economic growth – this does not detract from its importance as a fundamental pillar of development. Thinking through the counter factual of the impact on poverty of not having food security can be useful. Following the spike in food prices in 2007-08 the FAO estimated that over 1 billion people became food insecure. This had an immediate and severe impact on poverty in some cases undermining decades of efforts by donors and recipient countries.
Four years down the track the international community continues to focus on the issue – with food security front and centre of agendas in a number of forums including G20, ASEAN, CHOGM and APEC.
I look forward to your and others contributions to this important debate.
‘Alopi Latukefu
Director, Food Security and Rural
AusAID
Jacqui,
Your work in Indonesia sounds fascinating. With a population the size of Indonesia – food security will certainly be a long term challenge for them. Is there strong private sector involvement in the agricultural sector in Indonesia? While smallholder farmers can be encouraged to produce more to improve their livelihoods, are there the enabling environments, market and logistics chains to support such economic growth?
ZF
I am just impressed with the article writren by Jacqui versis the aurguement of Garth Luke, Alopi and others over the significants of food security in the Rural.
Am a postgraduate of Juba University in Rural Development and now aspiring for Masters, Rural Development in South Sudan.
Yes rural poeple living must be engaged on the livelihood 2 sustain their way of living and olso must have access 2 produce and take them 2 market,……..supermarket chains expanded into remote locatuions intensifying competition over demand for smallholder produce