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Nowdays, The first and continuing challenge that have been happen in indonesia is food

security, or how to produce and ensure access to enough food to feed the still growing

population. Food security is a necessary, these condition for the well-being of a society. Recent

archeological evidence demonstrates that ancient civilizations rose and fell based on their ability

to maintain a secure, stable food supply. Conceptually, the problem of food security has been

with us at least since long time ago. Food security is viewed broadly to include at least three

important dimensions availability, ade!uacy and accessibility. "vailability refers to terms of

sufficient production. "vailability should encompass the concept of food suffiency to sustain

human life implies that food production and supply are dependable in the face of possible

production shortages due to general causes such as climatic changes, natural disasters and civil

disturbance. #n addition, availability concerns go beyond the immediate feeding of the population

to include issues of natural resource preservation, regeneration and sustainability for future

generations. Conse!uently, embedded in this concept is concern for long term ecological balance

of natural systems. Food security re!uires that concerted attention be given to conservation and

enhancement of the natural resource base for food production. The dimension of ade!uacy refers

to differing nutritional needs of various segment of the population. #t can be conceptualized in

terms of balanced diets and having a variety of foods throughout the year. "lso, an ade!uate food

supply must include concern for the long term health effects of continuous, and largely

unmonitored, change in types and supply of food available to a population. " third essentialelement in food security is accessibility. #t encompasses not only transportation and mar$eting

but also the means by which food is ac!uired Food security or self-sufficiency.

The #ndonesian government is ramping up efforts to become food-secure through rice

self-sufficiency and plans to greatly increase investments in agriculture. " strategic national

target is to increase rice production by %&& $ilograms per hectare every year. 'istorically, rice

has been the country(s number one staple food with most #ndonesians depending on rice for as

much as )& percent of their caloric inta$e. *ut as #ndonesians eat more rice, our childrencontinue to suffer from chronic malnutrition, with ).+ million children or .% percent of

children under e/periencing stunted development. *etween %&0& and %&0, the prevalence of

stunted growth increased from .1 to .% percent2 an alarming figure given the condition(s

lifelong conse!uences.

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*ut this program has wea$ness, th wea$enesses of food security programs in #ndonesia

are too much focus on rice production but not on farmers( incomes and the dominance role of the

government that leaves little opportunity for people to develop food security initiatives based on local

resources. The 3inistry of "griculture reported in %&0% that rice consumption in #ndonesia was still

around 01 grams per capita per day, considerably larger than the target of % grams per capita per

day. The demand for rice is still very huge, amounting to %. to %.) million tons per month. 3eanwhile

the consumption of tubers is still considerably low, only at +& grams from the target of 0&& grams per

capita. *ut rice production has been rather stagnant over the last 0& years. The Central 4tatistics "gency

5*647 reported that rice-harvesting areas increased from 00. million hectares in %&&% to 0. million

ha in %&0%, while rice production rose from 0.+8 million tons 5unhus$ed7 in %&&% to 8.&+ million tons

in %&0%. Rice production is concentrated in a few provinces in 9ava, accounting for over & percent of

national production. The other provinces that contribute above percent to total production are 4outh

4ulawesi 5.0 percent7, North 4umatra 5.+ percent7 and 4outh 4umatra 5.& percent7.