INDONESIA Ceremony to award the FAO Agricola Medal to H.E. President Joko Widodo Statement

Your Excellency President Joko Widodo,

Excellences,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Good morning - Selamat Pagi

I am honoured to be here today in Jakarta to award the prestigious FAO Agricola Medal to His Excellency President Joko Widodo of Indonesia.

The FAO Agricola Medal is conferred by the FAO Director-General to extraordinary leaders who have demonstrated commitment and action in support of FAO’s mandate to eradicate hunger, reduce poverty, and ensure food security and nutrition for all.

There have been many distinguished recipients of the Agricola Medal since it was established in 1977, especially from Asia, such as:

His Majesty King Bhumibol of Thailand

Presidents Jian Zemin and PM. Wen Jiabao of China

President Tran Duc Loc of Vietnam

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of India and

Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi of Japan.

And today, the President of Indonesia receives the prestigious FAO Agricola Medal.

This is a significant milestone because it recognizes Indonesia, with a population of 280 million people to be fed well, and as a large country of growing importance in the region and beyond.

It is a recognition of the historic and continued collaboration between FAO and Indonesia, which has lasted for almost seven decades.

And it commends the progress made towards our shared goals under the strong and people centered leadership of President Jokowi.

FAO was founded the same year Indonesia became independent, in 1945.

Soon after that, in 1948, Indonesia became a Member of FAO, and the FAO Representation in Indonesia was established in 1978.

Under the leadership of President Joke Widodo, Indonesia has prioritized and made great progress in transforming its agrifood system within the context of sustained economic growth, even in the face of global challenges and uncertainties, including the COVID-19 pandemic. 

This focus and success are captured in the inscription on the Agricola Medal which reads: Stronger Together for Resilient and Sustainable Agrifood Systems.

This also reflects my focus as FAO Director-General since taking office in 2019, for the transformation of global agrifood systems as a cornerstone for global food security, embedded in the FAO Strategic Framework 2022-31, and centered on the Four Betters: better production, better nutrition, a better environment, and a better life - leaving no-one behind. 

The Four Betters reflect well the collaboration between FAO and Indonesia across all sectors of agrifood systems: agriculture, forestry, livestock, fisheries and aquaculture.

We have been working together in, among many others, increasing food production; reducing food loss and waste; crop biodiversity; adaptation and mitigation against the impacts of the climate crisis; ecosystem restoration; forests monitoring and natural resources sustainable management; as well as prioritizing the food-forest-water-energy nexus.

This cross-sectoral collaboration affirms the fundamental interlinkage between the Four Betters, which cannot be realized in a meaningful way in isolation of each other - success can only be achieved with a balanced approach to all four.

Your Excellency, 

During your tenure as President, you have managed such a balance, necessary for the social, economic and sustainable growth of Indonesia.

This includes your approach to your own personal area of expertise: the responsible and sustainable use of forests, carefully set in the overall developmental requirements of your country.

The collaboration between FAO and Indonesia in recent years also reflects another convergence, one of future visions: that of the FAO Strategic Framework with the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and the Golden Indonesia 2045 Vision - which will mark 100 years of Indonesia’s independence.

FAO contributes to all the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and is the custodian UN agency for 21 related indicators, guided by our mandate focused on SDG 2 (Zero Hunger) and SDG1 (No Poverty). But also, on SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities).

That is why I am pleased to note, Your Excellency, that the policies undertaken by your Government under the Indonesia 2045 Vision also address this critical developmental challenge of inequality. 

I have always emphasized the three key dimensions of inequality:

the first is the legacy shared by most countries around the world of gender inequality;

second, we must not forget the growing dimension of rural-urban inequality;

and third, of geographical inequality – which is relevant to all large countries such as Indonesia who have to face inequalities between regions.

The programmes and initiatives under the Indonesia 2045 Vision are aimed at a modern and holistic urban development.

FAO’s Green Cities Initiative supports this vision by promoting sustainable and integrated green cities aimed at addressing such inequalities.

Your Excellency,

I would like to highlight three specific areas of collaboration with Indonesia, which FAO is committed to supporting further with our technical and professional knowledge and expertise.

First: Digital Agriculture, including E-Agriculture.

The Digital Village Initiative promotes digitalization in agriculture and aquaculture in Indonesia, especially among young entrepreneurs. 

I had the opportunity to see in person the success of this FAO flagship initiative when I visited Bali in September 2022, where I witnessed the mobile application and dashboard system which helps extension workers collect integrated data from coffee producers in Bali and rice farmers in Yogyakarta, all connected in real time with the Ministry of Agriculture in Jakarta. 

FAO is proud to be supporting the Ministry in enhancing digital agriculture in Indonesia.

Second: South-South and Triangular Cooperation.

FAO’s support to promote and facilitate South-South and Triangular Cooperation in Indonesia has a long history. In 1985, four million Indonesian farmers worked to create the Indonesian Farmers Fund, entrusted to FAO in support of farmers in Africa, which led to the creation of vocational training centers in the Gambia and Tanzania, supported development projects across Africa, and offered agriculture apprenticeship programmes for African farmers in Indonesia. 

This is an example of real South-South Cooperation!

In 2021, FAO and Indonesia signed a Memorandum of Understanding on South-South and Triangular Cooperation to foster institutional capacity development and facilitate the transfer of technology and experience among FAO Members, particularly in the areas of agriculture and food security.

In February this year, FAO and the Government of Indonesia held a workshop to further strengthen collaboration, and we reaffirmed our commitment to explore further the potential for cooperation and joint fundraising.

Third: Aquaculture. 

FAO has been collaborating through the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries, in the context of Indonesia’s Blue Economy Roadmap and FAO’s Blue Transformation Roadmap to, among other, review the national aquaculture biosecurity strategy and strategy for the management of aquatic genetic resources. 

The potential of sustainable fisheries and aquaculture for food security, economic growth and livelihoods for Indonesia is enormous, and FAO is committed to providing support, including through the FAO Hand-in-Hand Geospatial Platform, which is critical for a country as vast and geographically diverse as Indonesia.

I sincerely thank President Joko Widodo and the Government of Indonesia for working together in an efficient, effective and coherent manner with FAO to transform Indonesia’s agrifood system.

To achieve this, we have been working successfully across government ministries, including the Office of the President, as well as with local communities, academia, civil society and the private sector.

I am also proud to say that our mutual cooperation has focused on small-scale producers and entrepreneurs, family farmers and fishers, indigenous people, as well as women and the youth.

Since becoming Director-General, I have worked to enhance the visibility of the needs of Indigenous People, especially through the World Food Forum, established in middle of October 2021 and now an annual event on the FAO calendar. 

The World Food Forum promotes the transformation of global agrifood systems by championing young people, promoting science and technology and providing a platform for Hand-in-Hand investments.

I have also established, for the first time within the UN system, a dedicated Office of Youth and Women by FAO regular budget. 

Transforming agrifood systems to provide nutritious and affordable foods for 280 million people or more across 17,500 islands is a great task.

As former Vice-Minister of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of China, a hugely populous nation with giant geography, I can fully relate with the complex challenges faced by the Government of Indonesia.

Yet, you have succeeded, Your Excellency, thanks to your leadership and vision with great action.

It is well known that you are the first President of Indonesia from a background grounded in the reality of millions of your citizens, bringing that experience into your leadership approach and style. 

I myself am the son of a small rice farmer from the Hunan Province in China, and I appreciate the value this background can bring, as it did when I was Vice-Chair in the Ningxia Hui autonomous region, Vice-Minister, and now as Director-General of FAO.

Your leadership style was apparent from the beginning when you took time to visit specific areas to listen to the issues of those people while you were the Mayor of Surakarta, later as Governor of Jakarta, and then as President of Indonesia.

Because that is a good example for me to follow, it is what I did from the start at FAO, beginning on my first day in office in 2019, by meeting every single person who was working in the office during the first week of August, with over 3,000 employees at FAO headquarters in Rome, walking over 12 km in the headquarters buildings in one day!

But also during my travels to member countries, where I have met not only with Heads of State and Government, and high-level officials, but always going on field visits to meet farmers, fisherfolk, rural areas and the people for whom we are really working for. 

There is no substitute to listening directly to the people that you are honoured to serve, and you Mr President, are a champion of this approach.

The Agricola Medal that FAO presents to you today is a testament to your leadership, to your efforts to transform Indonesia’s agrifood system, to ensuring food security and a better life for every Indonesian, without leaving anyone behind.

This award is a symbol of the strong collaboration between FAO and Indonesia, and the excellent progress towards our shared objectives, within the context of the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals, and Indonesia’s 2045 Vision.

Your strong leadership has also been visible to the world through Indonesia’s successful Presidency of the G20 through which you established a stronger collective coherent global leadership.

You drew the attention of the world’s leaders to the importance of an enabling environment and the critical need for effective partnerships to ensure sustainable and inclusive growth.

You promoted productivity, while focusing on the need to increase resilience and stability.

In recognition of your national, regional and global achievements, it is my honour and privilege to present the FAO Agricola Medal to His Excellency, esteemed President Joko Widodo.

Thank you.