New Strategy for Agricultural Development

Price escalation in food and agriculture to three-fold during the last three years is troubling, not least for Indonesia. The following three main factors are often considered responsible, namely (1) climate change phenomena that disrupt food production forecast strategic, (2) increasing demand of food commodities due to conversion to biofuels, and (3) action of the investors (speculators) the global level due to market conditions financial uncertainty.
Even so, the price escalation has also been the opportunity (and challenge) to formulate a new agricultural development strategy that is compatible with the changing times.
Agricultural development in Indonesia has shown that the contribution of hard indisputable, that the increase in productivity through high yielding varieties of food crops, livestock and fishery production surge has proven capable of overcoming the problem of hunger in the last four decades. Plantation and agro-industry development has also been able to deliver on the nation's economic progress, improving export performance, and labor absorption.
In short, the performance of the agricultural travel Indonesia is much more comprehensive than the rate 3.51 percent per year average growth in the period 1960-2006, calculated from the Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
In the early stages or phases of consolidation 1967-1978 agricultural sector grew only 3.38 percent, then jumped very high and reached 5.72 percent in the period 1978-1986, then back to slow down 3.39 percent in 1986-1997 and continue the deconstruction phase slows 1.57 per cent until the period of economic crisis.
In times of economic crisis, the good performance achieved by plantation and livestock sub-sector is almost no significant impact because of declining purchasing power. In the reform era (2001-2006), Indonesian agriculture has grown 3.45 percent per year, and yet can be said to have headed in the right direction (more see Arifin, 2007).
Three important principles
Over the past four decades, agricultural development strategy to follow three essential principles: (1) broad-based and integrated with the macro economy, (2) equity and poverty eradication, and (3) preservation of the environment. Two main principles have shown good performance, as described above, because the support network of irrigation, roads, bridges, changes in technology, macroeconomic policy, and so forth.
The concept of agricultural revitalization that proclaimed President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in fact can not be separated from the mindset and strategies mentioned above. Because the phenomenon of the Green Revolution and the perspective of consistency, the achievement of rice self-sufficiency in the 1980s has also been followed by increased prosperity and equity income of rice farmers in Indonesia, equitable distribution of rural and urban sectors.
At that time the center of rice production in Java, Lampung, South Sumatra, West Sumatra, North Sumatra, South Sulawesi, West Nusa Tenggara, and others are also identical to the welfare and income distribution.
The third principle of conservation of environment is not yet widely shows the results because of newly developed serious post-Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1992.
In short, agricultural development must be able to bring the mission of equality if you want to contribute to the eradication of poverty and ensuring sustainability of development itself.
The new strategy
Here is a new strategy of trying to offer in relation to the determinants of new patterns of agricultural development in the future. The strategy has been proven and tested so far do not have to be abandoned, just need to be complemented with several dimensions of the following:
First, agricultural development must promote research and development (R & D), especially those able to answer the challenge of climate change adaptation. For example, researchers are challenged to produce rice varieties that can bloom in the morning, when the air temperature is not too hot. Upland rice-story scaffolding in the era of the 1980s that is able to adapt and grow in upland and rainfed, now need to be improved to generate higher productivity than 2.5 tons per hectare. That the Indonesian agriculture should not rely only on the land in Java seems to have been agreed, just need to be systematically implemented. For example, new varieties need to be tested and test multi adaptation in a number of dry areas by empowering the local university network and the Institute for Agricultural Technology Development scattered in the area.
Second, the integration of food security development with energy development strategy, including alternative energy. This strategy is new is at its very beginning so that Indonesia should not be one step. Indonesia was once late in the food security reconcile with alternative energy. That is, Indonesia needs something bigger than just a policy at the level of Presidential Instruction No. 1 / 2006 on Biofuels and Presidential Regulation No. 5 / 2006 on the Diversification of Energy.
Third, agricultural development is inherently necessary to protect farmers' producer (and consumer). Food and agricultural commodities business risk factors such as season, the lag time (time-lag), differences in productivity and product quality are quite striking. The mechanism of hedging (hedging), crop insurance, auction markets and warehouse receipts are the slightest of important examples of instruments that can reduce business risk and market uncertainty. Operationalization of this strategy, policy formulators and administrators at the local level must be able to make it into an action step is to give enlightenment to the farmers, empowering communities, and strengthen community organizations to be able to participate in the commodity futures market is more challenging. This is where the tough and competitive agriculture will be realized.