Independent Writing Course

1. Food Security Policy: Case Study for Policy Formulation and Implementation
in the Special Region of Yogyakarta (Daerah Istimewa Yogyakarta/DIY)
Yacinta Esti
Food Security Framework
Food Security framework in Indonesia was initiated in 1996 after the World Food Summit by World
Food Programme (WFP) took place. This world conference led to initiatives such as actions for a
more integrated food security system within the ASEAN Community. Following those events, a
definite concept of food security was promulgated and internationally accepted. It has four
dimensions: food access, food availability, food stability and food utilization. In Indonesia, this food
security framework enacted into Decree number 7 year 1996 (UU nomor 7 tahun 1996) on food. It
has become the Indonesian major policy foundation on food that shapes the common understanding
at the decentralized level of state governance. This means that local governments should ensure the
right to food access through equal distribution, maintaining the standard of food quality, and
guaranteeing a fair market for producer-trader-buyer.
The commitment from Indonesian leaders to achieve a targeted national food security level has
been a part to carry out the first Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) which is the eradication of
extreme poverty and hunger. Active support to secure the first goal should contribute to the aim of
halving the number of people in the world who suffer from hunger by 2015. The Food and
Agriculture Organization (FAO) of theUnited Nations (UN)has mandated to successfully raise levels
of nutritional intake, improve agricultural productivity and better the lives of rural populations, as
well as contribute to the growth of world economy.
The enthusiasm to achieve sustainable food security was more prominent after the sharp increase of
world food prices in 2007/2008. Indonesia, together with the other ASEAN leaders, pledged to
embrace food security as an important priority in setting up cooperation among governments,
private sectors, and Non Government Organizations (NGOs) with the goal of improving food
production, reducing harvest failures, and strengthening rural-market linkages. As highlighted in July
2011 at the ASEAN Food Security Conference in Manila, the Philippines, food security issues were
covered by the issue of vulnerability of the poorest people in each state in connection to the
economic communities to socio-cultural community.
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2. A nation might suffer from the effects of natural disasters, disease outbreaks and inflation, which
have an impact to the destruction of livelihood assets. Indonesia was vulnerable to food insecurity
by regions as well as being prone to the damaging impacts of extreme climate variability (WFP,
2010). In relation to that, the President constituted Presidential Instruction number 5 year 2011
(Instruksi Presiden, Inpres nomor 5 tahun 2011) which instructed ministries and local governments to
take serious coordinated action in protecting rice production from harvest failure triggered by global
climate change.
Subsequently, at the decentralized level, the provincial government of the Special Region of
Yogyakarta (DIY) has integrated UU number 7 year 1996 and Inpres number 5 year 2011 on food into
its regional midterm development planning (Rencana Pembangunan jangka Menengah
Daerah/RPJMD) 2009 – 2013. In 2011, DIY incorporated food security policies with sectoral
development policies such as an agricultural revitalization policy, environmental stewardship on land
use and water harvesting policies, food marketing policies, and a safety net policy for the poor to
access basic needs.
Furthermore, to deliver a successful policy implementation, the respective units of provincial or city
government should generate data on the trend food security situations. This became a problem
since the statistical data for regional achievements had not been compiled since the first food
security policies were implemented in 1996. Thus, the next challenges are identification and
articulation to bring focal point in for present and future cooperation among relevant stakeholders.
The role and functions of government institutions in implementing a food security framework for a
concrete action is discussed next.
Institutional Set Up for Food Security Policies
Through PP number 5 year 2011, the President has called upon eleven ministries, three bureaus, the
national army and national police, and provincial governors/districts to coordinate and tackle the
issue of securing national rice stock before the impact of climate change affects rice crop production
nationwide. Here, we learn that the national priority for food security is protecting rice paddy
cultivation from harvest failures. More than adequate harvest or achieving surplus in rice production
should provide the nation cheaper rice for daily consumption. Necessary steps were taken into
consideration to secure rice production from the negative impact of climate change and natural
disasters.
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3. Together with the Agricultural Ministry, the national government has formed a Food Security
Committee which acted as a presidential advisory board. The committee assisted the president in
formulating national food security policies. This Committe also facilitated coordination at the
regional and local level by creating an encouraging cooperation platform among civil servants,
business people, NGOs, academicians and civil societies to achieve all four dimensions of the food
security framework.
In DIY, the formulation of regional food security policies was under the authority of the provincial
secretary. The provincial secretary appointed the Administrative Bureau of Economic Affair and
Natural Resource Management (Biro Perekonomian) for data provision concerning regional
economics and amongst this was the sub division of agriculture and food security. The role of the
Agriculture and Food Security Sub Division (AFSSD) was not only preparing policies materials to
decision makings, but also conducted monitoring and evaluation on the agricultural and food
security policies. Finally, this Sub Division was also responsible to maintain cooperation with the
technical units such as the Agriculture Service (Dinas Pertanian) and Food Security Agency (Badan
Ketahanan Pangan dan Penyuluhan/ BKPP)
AFSSD had three roles in monitoring, evaluating and coordinating stakeholders for reaching regional
economic goals. The first function of the AFSSD was monitoring the achievement of regional
agricultural and food security policies and it resumed to evaluation in how far policies
implementations significantly affected regional economic growth. Together with the statistical
agency (Badan Pusat Statistik/BPS), the Dinas Pertanian and BKPP, they shared statistical data and
field observations to obtain preciseness in linking up agriculture and food situation strategies into
national policies targets. This incorporation worked across policies and institutions. One example of
collaboration among government institutions was addressing food insecurity and health problems
after the volcanic eruption in 2010.
Policy Monitoring and Evaluation
Agricultural production and food security were inseparable focal points for sustainable agriculture
and improvement of farmer’s welfare. Incorporating RPJMD and national decrees, the monitoring
and evaluation indicators have been developed into several key indicators for agriculture and food
security respectively. This indicators are connected to the dimensions of the food security
framework.
The general agricultural development policies for national and regional levels in 2011 was
agricultural revitalization focused on policy to increase farmer’s income and increasing domestic
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4. food stockpiles. In connection to that, the percentage of Farmers Term of Trade (FTT), food crop
productivity, horticulture production, livestock population numbers, and ratio for agricultural land
use conversion suggest that economic growth through agricultural stimulation is on the way. This led
to development of reliable indicators such as numbers of established village food stock program
(lumbung desa), ratio for energy and protein consumption, and Balanced Diet Indexes (Pola Pangan
Harapan/PPH) as indicators for food security achievements. The results in each of the indicators
surpassed the proposed ratio in the RPJMD 2009 – 2013. It therefore indicated successful
achievement at regional level.
Accordingly, FTT can serve as an indicator for food consumption as it reflects the level of
agricultural’s income at the household or individual level. It shows the level of food access and
farmer households daily intake for calories and protein consumption. According to the ulitization
framework of food security, a proper food consumption for being considered secure was having a
balance on protein, fat and calories intake. However, due to the reason of high cost of food, it was
usual to eat more calories such as rice than, for example, meat, fruits and vegetables, eggs, and fish.
As mentioned before, Dinas Pertanian and BKPP are the technical institutions which shared roles of
implementing regional agriculture and food security policies. Dinas Pertanian was more focused on
the know –how, transferring technology to boost local food production as well as creating new
employments sectors and income generation for peasants or smallholders. In parallel, BKPP gives
attention to food utilization. The focal point of food utilization is combating malnourishment at all
levels by giving education to pupils and expected women. To deliver food access and food stability,
the provincial government had as its starting points the social safety nets (giving rice subsidy to the
poor known as beras miskin/raskin) and food stockpiling. The output in tackling food insecurity in
DIY was building livelihood asset such as infrastucture, housing, financial support, and food provision
after the earthquake in 2006 followed by the stabilization of regional economic growth afterwards.
Recommendation: Policy Formulation and Implementation
The process of preparing a regional food security policy document requires the incorporation of all
relevant aspects in ensuring food production and achieving surplus, stabilizing food stocks, securing
food access, and the last is focusing on food utilization to reduce the number of undernourished
children and malnourished population.
1. The first step in the process is that provincial government have to understand why the province
wants to have a food security policies. It should not be based on the argumentation to align
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5. regional policies to national policies rather something more fundamental such as livelihood
protection on the disaster prone areas. The formulation of food security policies should be
based on overcoming the local or regional problems such as food insecurity due to an outbreak
of disease or poor infrastructure that hinders food supply to remote areas.
2. Secondly, local government must analyse the regional food security trends during set time
periods of ten to twenty years observations. The analysis should reflect current situation and
occurences. Based on this, the provincial government of DIY will be fully alert to local problems
arising from food insecurity. Generally, DIY is very vulnerable to food insecurity due to the
effects of natural disasters such as earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. Provincial government
needs to map the areas which are vulnerable and marked it based on the local income
generation, source of livelihoods, and food accessibility status. Based on direct and indirect
evidence, respective working units or technical departments can conduct situation analysis
based on severity and establish administrative boundaries to foresee projected crises and
scenarios to overcome.
3. Linking up national – regional – sectoral policies is the third step in setting up strategic response
framework with the objectives to predict outcomes before assessing the regional food security
situation (food security impact assessment is defined by the status of food secure, moderately
food insecure, acute food and livelihood crisis, humanitarian emergency, and
famine/humanitarian catastrophe), support livelihoods, and address the underlying causes of
famine and catasthrope (FAO, 2008). The identification of regional needs and national
guidelines to achieve shall articulate a focal point for provincial priorities in 2011. This priorities
were raw food sources diversification, improvement of food distribution and increasing food
access level. Focal points determine the confidence level of policy implementation as an
instrument to reduce overlapping roles among stakeholders.
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6. Conclusion
In the monitoring and evaluation, DIY has adopted the strategic approaches defined by the FAO. The
provincial governments incorporated the FAO’s food security framework which aimed at increasing
and stabilizing food supply and improving food access and utilization with national policies and
regional agendas. The food security frameworks coupled with national and sectoral food security
policies provide a broad pricture of food security status in DIY.
In the context of food security decision making in DIY, the selected indicators for policy measures
and instruments have not yet captured the whole picture concerning the regional food situation. To
yield an adequate report on food security situation, the government need a focal point as a key
target to set activities for monitoring and evaluation among stakeholders. Thus, each institution will
work and support each other to deliver necessary statistical data that depicts food security status in
DIY.
The most important step overall is an institutional set up. Formulation and implementation of food
security policies should be under the steering committee which consists of high officials and decision
makers. In the case of DIY, food security coordination was placed under the authority of the
provincial secretary; nevertheless, coordination was difficult to achieve due to overlapping tasks and
roles among relevant stakeholders, as well as budget limitations in running the proposed programs.
Policy formulation specifically in DIY in general need a focal point. This point should be clear enough
to the districts level and brigde the differences of perception on the provincial and local level. To
monitor and assess how far districts are implementing the focal point on food security, the
coordinated action in food security also should under steering committee of several respective
institution on working units.
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7. Reference
IPC Global Partners, 2008. Integrated Food Security Phase Classification. Food and Agriculture
Organization. Rome.
Inpres nomor 5 Tahun 2011. Pengamanan Produksi Beras dalam Menghadapi Kondisi Iklim Ekstrim.
Rencana Pembangunan Jangka Menengah Daerah 2009 – 2013. Daerah Istimewa Yogyakarta.
UU nomor 7 Tahun 1996 tentang Pangan.
WFP, 2010. Indonesia Food Security Atlas.
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