Indonesia's "less rice" campaign floundering (Feature)

By Ahmad Pathoni Dec 21, 2010, 10:31 GMT

Jakarta - Indonesia's ambitious campaign to wean its population off rice, the staple food in the world's fourth most populous nation, appears to have achieved little success.

The drive seeks to encourage Indonesians to include other staples such as cassava in their regular meals as part of the government's efforts to diversify people's diets and achieve food security.

But a year after the campaign was launched, there are few signs people are switching to cassava or corn, and rice remains the essential feature in every meal.

'I feel I haven't eaten a meal if I haven't eaten rice in a day,' said Yenni Puspaningtyas, a housewife in Jakarta, summing up the attachment of many Indonesians to rice.

Indonesia is the world's biggest consumer of rice and the government said the programme will not only improve people's health through balanced diets but the country's food resilience.

'We aim to increase the consumption of carbohydrates from sources other than rice such as cassava or other roots, because dependence on one staple is not good,' said Deputy Agriculture Minister Bayu Krishnamurti.

'We also hope this campaign will provide new economic opportunities for local farmers and food producers,' he said.

Indonesia, with a population of 230 million people, consumes about 35 million tons of rice annually, around 1 million tons of which is imported, Krishnamurti said.

The average Indonesian consumes 139 kilograms of rice a year, compared to 80 kilograms in neighbouring Malaysia and 60 kilograms in Japan.

The government hopes the campaign will reduce rice consumption by 1.2 million tons a year.

The campaign's apparent lack of success prompted the government to change the message from 'one day, no rice' in a week to 'one meal no rice' in a day.

'It's more doable and if people skip rice one time a day for three days a week, we will achieve the same results,' he said.

Analysts expressed doubt about the effectiveness of the campaign and said a drop in rice consumption would not likely be achieved soon.

'I don't think many people are aware of the programme and there seems to be little information about it,' said Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa, an analyst from Danareksa Research Institute.

He said there are no signs that government officials were switching their staples.

'For many Indonesians, no rice means no energy and it will take time to change that view,' he said.

Khudori, a food expert from the Association of Indonesian Political Economists, said despite the campaign, few efforts had been made to make other staples widely available and cheaper.

'The campaign can't just rely on a slogan, but it must be accompanied by action,' said Khudori, who like many Indonesians uses one name.

'People rely on rice because it can be found anywhere, any time at affordable prices,' he said. 'But if they have to make sacrifices for the sake of diversifying their diets, they will refuse.'

Khudori also pointed out that the government's programme to help the country's poor involved distributing cheap rice.

The government's successful rice self-sufficiency programme under former president Suharto in the early 1980s has helped Indonesia to increase production to around 95 per cent of its own rice needs, up from around 50 per cent in the 1950s.

'It will take a long time to reverse the situation,' Khudori said. 'Changing the habit will require continuous efforts.'

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