Optimum and Innovative Model for the People Food
“Discussing about the Agribusiness” Program of Radio Republik Indonesia (RRI) presented the Rector of IPB, Prof. Dr. Ir. Herry Suhardiyanto, M. Sc and Tejo Pramono (La Via Campesina) as the resource persons (26/4). The program in this edition raised the topic of this “People Food” guided by the hosts of Yeka Hendra Fatika S.P and Bening Putrawan.
Talking about the people food, at the moment was still having many problems which struck down the community with the low purchasing power. The quality of the rice for the poor which existed at the moment apparently was still problematic. Although the government often clarified, it should be the quality of the rich for the poor that should be equal with the quality of rice properly, but this problem has not hung loosely. Talking about food was not actually only rice, because it was still many kinds of other food which were potential to overflow in this country.
Perceiving the matter, the Rector of IPB said “The matter which is important is its consumpution pattern. In this context, we often hear the terminology about the food diversification. The source of carbohydrate is not only rice. We have so many whims of the sources of carbohydrate starting from corn, sorghum, sago, breadfruit, and many more. All of these have been long we are closed to, but how far is that really presents to become the solution, that is the thing which we should treat exhaustively soon”.
Meanwhile, talking about the food unsafe to the famer, Tejo Pramono had a certain opinion, “First, we shall see that the country of Indonesia is the agrarian country meaning that some of its people are farmers and we shall know that apparently 80% of the farmer’s income are consumed again for food. This means that the farmers are troubled by food. If we see from the land control is averagedly 0.3 hectare which means that with 0.3 hectares they shall work as the farm laborer. If talked about the income, they only get 20-30 thousands per day and if they have many children in the village, they shall share.
The Rector of IPB adds that the issue to be faced by the farmer, the first, is about the access toward the land as the important resource in this agriculture. The average ownership of 0.3 hectare per Head of Family is calculated to be the figure which is too small to be able to ascertain that the farm operation which is managed can be profitable. Second, because there is indeed the issue which is related to the production system itself there is the fixed cost which shall be carried on. Therefore according to the Rector of IPB, we shall be able to find the agricultural model which is optimum and innovative.” Thus the fixed cost could not be against with the optimum, so the fixed cost should be pressed and the farmer could compete. But the quality also had to be preserved.
The proposal of this optimum and innovative model formulation was intended in order that the farmer had the rational choice in seeking the commodity which was in accord with the geophysical environment and continuously to be in production. According to Dr. Ir. Herry Suhardiyanto, M. Sc, the optimum model also covered various aspects, “The choice of its cultivation, the methodology of its cultivation, the choice of its commodity, its institutional, its processing, all shall be in the optimum position”, he said. (rf)
