Indonesia – FAO reaffirms stronger partnership to a more sustainable food system in Indonesia

Jakarta

Republic of Indonesia and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)  reaffirm a stronger partnership to transform the agri-food systems in Indonesia. The commitment was reiterated at the virtual meeting of the new FAO Representative Rajendra Aryal while presenting his credentials to the Foreign Minister HE Retno Marsudi in Jakarta (13/9).

Marsudi also highlighted Indonesia’s resilience in the agricultural sector that has been shown by Growth Domestic Product (GDP) increase by 2.19 % year-on-year despite the economic slowdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“ I hope FAO will continue to support agriculture development in Indonesia focusing on strategic areas such as increasing production capacity, diversification of staple food consumption, strengthening food reserves and logistic systems, development of modern agriculture and promoting agriculture experts” HE the Minister said.

 Aryal recognised the achievements Indonesia has made and reaffirmed FAO commitment to provide more support in the continuous effort to transform the food system in a more sustainable manner.

 “The Government of Indonesia has shown tremendous efforts to tackle the negative impacts of the pandemic on the livelihoods of the people. FAO will continue working with the government to provide protection to smallholder farmers and their families, food workers in all sectors, and those who are particularly vulnerable”, Aryal said.  

The meeting also highlighted that the agri-food system transformation will rely on agriculture digitalization such as e-agriculture and innovation. “We need to look at how the technological innovation and digitalization, such as e-agriculture, can help the farmers and consumers to tackle the problems of food insecurity, malnutrition and depletion of natural resources“, Aryal added.

Stronger Collaboration under South-South and Triangular Cooperation

In the meeting both parties agreed for the importance of South-South and Triangular Cooperation. The minister hoped that FAO will continue promoting and facilitating the cooperation with other developing countries across the globe under South and South and Triangular Cooperation.

“Indonesia has achieved a wide range of technical expertise in the food, agriculture, fisheries and forestry sectors, and FAO is committed to Indonesia’s expertise and good practices through south-south and triangular cooperation, not only in the Asia-Pacific Region, but globally“, Aryal said.

Rajendra Aryal is an international development professional with more than 26 years of experience in all facets of food security, sustainable livelihoods, agriculture value chain, resilience building, and recovery in nearly 30 countries in Asia, Africa and Europe. Before moving to Indonesia. He was FAO Representative in Afghanistan, senior resilience programme advisor in Rome and also senior resilience programme coordinator in Indonesia.