Jakarta, IO – “About 21 million people or 7 percent of the population are malnourished with daily calorie intake per capita below the Health Ministry’s standard of 2,100 kcal,” said Aditya Alta, head of agriculture research center at the Center for Indonesian Policy Studies (CIPS), per CNNIndonesia Monday (10/7).
Aditya explained that the malnutrition was caused by inadequate food across the country, especially for low-income people who spend most of their income on food. This has disrupted their nutritional and calorie intake.
According to the 2022 Global Food Security Index, Indonesia ranked 84th for food availability and 44th for affordability out of a total of 113 countries. This was lower than other countries such as Thailand (77th and 39th), Vietnam (49th and 38th) and Malaysia (56th and 30th).
Aditya also highlighted rice and corn import restrictions even though Indonesia is confronted by a supply shortage. According to him, this has further exacerbated domestic food security situation.
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“This obstacle hinders rice import process to ensure food security and food reserve. It is not uncommon for imported rice to arrive right during the main harvest period, causing domestic price of to fall,” Aditya explained. (un)