Faced with a possible decline in its rice production, more Indonesians
should start placing more types of staple foods on the table, experts have
said.
By consuming more diversified
staple foods, average Indonesians would not only be healthier, but also contribute
to improving the welfare of farmers.
Bondan Winarno from the
Indonesian Biodiversity Foundation said local resource-based staple produce
including corn, potato, cassava or tapioca, could help ease the food scarcity
problems and also address major health problems.
"We need to inform people
that by reducing rice consumption, they will have a better digestive system and
lower their risk of diabetes because rice contains a significant level of
sugar," Winarno said recently.
Winarno, who is also one of the
country's most celebrated foodies, said that the country's obsession with rice
had placed Indonesia fourth on the World Health Organisation's list of
countries with the most number of diabetes patients.
Data from the Agriculture
Ministry said that the nation's rice consumption average is 316 grams per
capita per day, higher than most Southeast Asian countries. The suggested rice
consumption per day is 275 grams.
The government has started
campaigning to promote new eating habits through the issuance of Presidential
Regulation No. 22/2009, which mandates every province to diversify their food
production.
A number of local governments
have also taken the initiative to reduce the consumption of rice.
Earlier this year, the mayor of
Depok, West Java, Nur Mahmudi Ismail, introduced the "One Day, No
Rice" policy, by banning cafeterias in government buildings from serving
rice.
Local government workers got
around the regulation by bringing their own packed lunches.
In recent years, the trend has
shown that besides rice, Indonesians also avidly consume wheat flour-based
products.
Last year, the consumption of the
imported staple rose to 18 kilograms per capita annually, from 17.1 kilograms.
Helianti Hilman, the chief
executive officer of Javara local food distributors, said improved awareness of
locally grown food, other than rice, could also mean improved welfare for
millions of farmers.
"We should start to see our
food choices as a political movement. Consumers need to consider where food
comes from, and how their preference will impact society," said Hilman,
who markets about 800 locally grown food products from 50,000 farmers.
Purwiyatno Hariyadi, director of
the Southeast Asian Food and Agricultural Science and Technology Centre, said
that other lesser known staples must be processed in order to make it more
appealing to consumers.
News Desk
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