Vicki Febrianto Antara 8 Jan 11;
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Climate change is now no longer a potenial threat to Indonesia`s food production but a phenomenon that has already begun to affect it.
This fact is being reflected in how serious the government views the reality. Two presidential instructions are to be issued at the end of this month on measures to safeguard food resilience in Indonesia due to extreme climate change, as Coordinating Economic Minister Hatta Rajasa has said.
"We expect it in January, and in fact we`ve set the target on the third or the fourth week according to the schedule. We`ll mull them with all (the economic ministers) tomorrow," said Minister Rajasa at his office in Jakarta, last Thursday.
Rajasa explained that the aim of the presidential instructions (Inpres) among other is to provide flexibility for the agricultural minister in responding to the extreme climate change that have brought about changes on planting seasons, pest attacks or climate-related destruction of agricultural land.
"Flexibility is certainly needed by the agricultural minister for taking emergency steps as there should be response for that," Minister Rajasa pointed out.
Meanwhile the other Inpres will be for providing flexibility to the state logistics company Bulog in supplying or purchasing the rice produced by farmers, for all varieties of rice, not just some certain varieties, he added.
When the two Inpres have already been issued, according to the minister, then the government will re-formulate the Inpres on anticipating climate change.
"This really is exceptional, the meteorology and geophysics agency has predicted (the seasons) would continue to be wet, something we need to anticipate," he said,
emphasizing the need for a policy response as there would be no alternatives but taking maximum efforts on tackling the impacts from climate change on food production.
The Indonesian government has allocated a contingency fund of 3.0 trillion rupiahs for stabilizing food production in the anticipation of impacts from pest attacks or extreme weather.
Rice Production
As of January 2010, according to Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), global planting of paddy crops was already well advanced in southern hemisphere countries. In South America, however, the season opened negatively due to drought or excessive rainfall that has delayed sowing of the main crops.
It is also feared that drought related to El Nino may decrease rice production in Indonesia, the UN agricultural body emphasizes in a recent statement.
There has been a major decline in world rice production since late 2007 due to many reasons including climatic conditions in many top rice producing countries as well as policy decision regarding rice export by the governments of countries with considerable rice production.
Reason for low world rice production in 2009 global rice price started increasing in November 2009 after months of steadily declining since reaching an all time high in May 2008. Problems related to price supply in two major rice producing countries - India and the Philippines - have been the primary reason for low world production of rice and the reversal of price trend.
Indonesia was at the third place after China and India as the world top producers of rice. China in 2010 produced 166.4 million tons of rice, India produced 132 million tons, and Indonesia produced 52 million tons. However, these three countries are also the world`s largest by population.
Upside down
Climate change has changed precipitation patterns in Indonesia upside down, according to a result of a recent study by World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), titled "Climate Change in Indonesia, Implication for Humans and Nature."
Precipitation patterns have changed as there has been a decline in annual rainfall in the southern regions of Indonesia and an increase in precipitation in the northern regions. The seasonality of precipitation (wet and dry seasons) has changed were wet season rainfall in the southern region has increased while dry season rainfall in the northern region has decreased.
The climate is warming from 0.2 to 0.3 centigrade per decade in Indonesia, resulting in the increase in annual precipitation across the majority of the Indonesian islands, except in southern Indonesia where is it projected to decline by up to 15 percent.
The seasonality of precipitation has also changed where parts of Sumatra and Sulawesi may become 10 to 30 percent wetter by the 2080`s during December-February, the months known as wet seasons for Indonesia.
There has also been a shift in the seasonality of precipitation (wet and dry seasons); in the southern region of Indonesia the wet season rainfall has increased while the dry season rainfall has decreased, whereas the opposite pattern was observed in the northern region of Indonesia, it notes.
Increased frequency and severity of El Nino events and fires will impact food production and the ability of natural systems to provide ecosystem services, whereas arming ocean temperatures, sea-level rise, and increased storms will impact coastal systems by increasing coral bleaching events, changes in fish availability, inundation of coast lines and mangroves.
The El Nino-induced droughts of 1997-1998 caused massive crop failures, water storage, and forest fires in parts of Indonesia and if climate model projections of stronger, more frequent El Nino events materialize, Indonesia may experience even more adverse impacts, including less food production and increased hunger.
The study concludes that the challenge for Indonesia is to create appropriate and effective adaptation strategies to address climate change and its impacts by building resilience and resistance. Action needs to take place at all levels; from international, to national, local and community-based efforts.
Two presidential instructions expected to maintain food resilience
Antara 6 Jan 11;
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Two presidential instructions (Inpres) are expected to be issued at the end of this month on measures to safeguard food resilience in the face of extreme climate change, a minister said on Thursday.
"We expect them to be issued in January, and in fact we have set the target of the third or fourth week in accordance with the schedule. We`ll discuss them with all (the economic ministers) tomorrow (Friday)," Economic Affairs Coordinating Minister Hatta Rajasa said at his office here.
Rajasa explained that the aim of the Inpres among other is to provide for flexibility for the agricultural minister in responding to the extreme climate change that have brought about changes on planting seasons, pest attacks or climate-related destruction of agricultural land.
"Flexibility is certainly needed by the agricultural minister in taking emergency steps as there should be response for that," Minister Rajasa pointed out.
Meanwhile the other Inpres will be for giving flexibility to the state logistics company Bulog in supplying or purchasing the rice produced by farmers, for all varieties of rice, not just some certain varieties, he added,
When the two Inpres have already been issued, according to the minister, then the government will re-formulate the Inpres on anticipating climate change. "This really is exceptional, the meteorology and geophysics agency has predicted (the seasons) would continue to be wet, something we need to anticipate," he said.
Minister Rajasa emphasized that Indonesia should have a policy response and there would not be other choice but taking maximum efforts on tackling impacts from climate change on food production.
The Indonesian government, he added, has allocated a contingency fund of 3.0 trillion rupiahs for stabilizing food production in the anticipation of impacts from pest attacks or extreme weather.
New policy needed to secure agricultural lands: President
Antara 6 Jan 11;
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said Indonesia needs a new policy or regulation to secure agricultural lands to prevent them from being used for non-agricultural purposes.
"A new policy or regulation is really needed to secure agricultural lands. I have just signed a government regulation for that purpose," the president said at his office here on Thursday.
Speaking at a cabinet meeting, the President said the new policy was needed so that no more agricultural lands could be converted into non-agricultural lands arbitrarily.
He said land was the main capital in the government`s program to increase food production and productivity, adding the availability of agricultural land was an important factor in the government`s ability to keep domestic food prices stable.
Apart from putting in place a new policy for securing land for food production, the government would also resort to other measures such as market intervention, enacting special fiscal policies, beefing up stockpiles, increasing productivity and avoiding food hoarding.
He also said that the government would maintain a good cooperation with the main actors in the business world, especially those dealing with food-related businesses.
"Although the government won`t always be able to control price increase as market mechanism would do that, in facing crises the role of the government is indeed significant," he said.
In that occasion, the president said about the government`s success in overcoming the global food crisis threats back in 2007 and 2008.
