The Directorate of Career Development, Entrepreneurship Incubation, and Alumni (DPKKA), Universitas Airlangga collaborated with the General Company of the Logistics Agency (Perum BULOG) to organize a guest lecture entitled "Indonesian Food: Challenges and Opportunities" on Friday (8/12/2023). The event took place in Garuda Mukti Hall, 5th Floor, Rectorate Building, MERR-C Campus.

The event discussed the challenges and opportunities of Indonesian food. The guest lecture session presented the President Director of Perum Bulog as the speaker. In his presentation, Bayu Krisnamurthi explained food security management.

"The sustainability of food security depends on the community itself. For example, an official expects his children to continue their profession, unlike farmers who do not expect their children to become farmers. This is a problem for Indonesia's food security because our food depends on farmers," he said.

Global Food Security

Furthermore, he explained that food security includes availability, affordability, and sufficiency. Without these three aspects, food security cannot achieve success indicators.

"Currently, food conditions in the world are not good. Data from WHO shows that 1/3 of the human population does not have adequate food access and experiences a prevalence of moderate to severe food insecurity. In 2020, around 193 million people may not be able to eat tomorrow," he said.

Prof. Bayu said that in most countries with relatively large populations, food management is carried out by establishing food authorities. In addition, these countries hand over food management to food logistics SOEs.

"One example of a country with good food management is China. The country appoints a state-owned enterprise to manage grain commodities, especially national rice reserves, through procurement, milling, storage, and distribution to traders," he added.

Food System Challenges

Furthermore, he explained that Indonesia is no longer an agricultural country because there are no indicators that show this. Indonesia does not export much in terms of agriculture. This is a big challenge for the food system in Indonesia.

"Indonesia does not have indicators that show it is an agrarian country. Indicators such as most of our exports come from agriculture or many people flock to become farmers. This can only show that the country is agrarian," he explained.

According to Prof. Bayu, the challenges of the current food system are an important task for Perum BULOG. In this case, the vision and mission is to become a superior and trusted food company in supporting the realization of food sovereignty.

"Bulog's role in supporting Indonesia's food security cannot be separated from the support of the community and the government. Not only that, our company will ensure the three important aspects of food security, namely the availability, affordability, and stability of basic food commodities," he concluded.

Writer: Christopher Hendrawan

Editor: Nuri Hermawan