Reduction of Rice Consumption

Many of my friends think that they have not eat food if they do not eat rice, although they have actually ate noodles or hamburgers.

I believe that this perception is also shared by most of the 240 million people in Indonesia who consume rice as their main food.

Therefore, I was surprised when I heard about the government's plan to make people to stop eating rice and change it with other kinds of food like Cassava.

In order to provide more information about this, please find below a report that I have quoted from AFP.
 
Considering that rice is not just the main food but also the product of, therefore the source of income for, tens of millions of people working in the paddy fields, reduction of rice consumption would surely effect the lives of so many people in Indonesia.

Indonesians 'in need to diversify diets'

By Jerome Rivet (AFP) – 5 hours ago

CIGUGUR, Indonesia — Indonesia is one of the world's biggest producers -- and consumers -- of rice, but in the interests of public health and food sustainability the government has launched an ambitious drive to wean people off their beloved staple.

For ordinary Indonesians like Andi Santoso, a 23-year-old student, the thought of going without rice for a day, as the government is proposing, is almost unthinkable.
"I eat rice for breakfast, lunch and dinner," he said, a little bemused. "If I don't eat rice, I feel like I haven't eaten. What else can I eat?"

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Photo :  Courtesy of AFP

Protection of Rice Fields

In the late '80s, the government adopted a policy which enabled local and foreign private entrepreneurs to develop and manage Industrial Estates/Zones in Indonesia.

As a result, important Rice Producing area in West Java that are located close to Jakarta i.e. Bekasi, Karawang and Cikampek, have been converted from Rice Fields into Industrial Estates/Zones and Residential Estates. From then on, Indonesia has changed from a Rice Self Sufficient country into an importer of Rice.

Statistics of the National Land Agency (BPN) shows that there are around 7,8 million hectares of irrigated Rice fields in Indonesia, but they are being rapidly swallowed up by property developments at a rate of more than 140,000 hectares a year.
And according to the Department of Agriculture the population has been growing by about 1.6% per year, putting significant strains on food resources.

In order to anticipate more problems in the future, the government and the National Parliament (DPR) are now preparing a Bill to protect Rice Fields from those Developers of Industrial and Residential estates.
But unfortunately, the said Bill is only intended for Rice Fields located in the country sides, but not for those located in towns/cities.
Whereas according to Profesor Hermanto Siregar of the Bogor Institute of Agriculture (IPB) conversion of Rice Fields in Towns/Cities reached around 2,5 Hectare a year. So if average productivity of Rice is 4,88 Ton per Hectare this means that there will be a decrease in Rice production of 12,2 million Ton.

For details on the above, please click here and here.

Considering the above facts, I hope that the Government and DPR will prepare the Bill based on the best interests of our country and people, that is to be Rice Self Sufficient once again.