END HUNGER, ACHIEVE FOOD SECURITY AND IMPROVED NUTRITION AND PROMOTE SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE

The Right to Food as a Basic Human Right

Food is a basic necessity for human survival, whereas the lack of it could result in a life-threatening  condition, therefore the right to adequate food is a human right. The right to food is enshrined in the ICESCR, Article 11 paragraph (1) as follows:

“The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize the right of everyone to an adequate standard of living for himself and his family, including adequate food, clothing and housing, and to the continuous improvement of living conditions. The States Parties will take appropriate steps to ensure the realization of this right, recognizing to this effect the essential importance of international co-operation based on free consent.”

The right to food is also implied in the 1945 Constitution, Article 28H on the right of everyone to live in physical and spiritual prosperity. It is also embodied in the Law on Food No. 18/2012 and, as Indonesia is a party to the ICESCR, in the Law No. 11 of 2005 on the Ratification of the ICESCR.

The right to food embodies three main pillars, namely availability, accessibility and adequacy.[1] Therefore, in order to guarantee the right of everyone’s to food, the three pillars shall be made the basis of the national implementation of the right to food.

Despite of existing law on food security, Indonesia is ranked 72nd of 109 countries with regard to food scarcity and food security according to the Global Food Security Index.[2] The World Food Programs has identified the following challenges:[3]

  • Food security improved between 2009 and 2015, with 58 of 398 rural districts found to be highly vulnerable in 2015. But progress may taper off if the challenges of food access, malnutrition and vulnerability to climate-related hazards are not addressed;
  • Stunting affects 37 percent of children under five, and along with underweight is prevalent among all income groups; meanwhile, the prevalence of overweight and obesity among adults has increased sharply, also for all income groups;
  • Poverty and volatile food prices hinder access to food, especially in remote areas. Most Indonesians, including 60 percent of subsistence farmers, buy their food in markets;
  • Indonesia aims to become self-sufficient in rice, corn, soybeans, beef and sugar. Efforts to increase production are under way, but climate change means that agriculture and livelihoods are still vulnerable to extreme weather;
  • The country also faces the threat of frequent natural disasters.

These challenges have made the strive to strengthen food security, end hunger and improve nutrition become crucial to be prioritized in the national development plan and implementation.

[1] General Comment No. 12/1999 on the right to adequate food, adopted by  the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

[2] Global Food Security Index 2016, available at: http://foodsecurityindex.eiu.com/Country/Details#Indonesia

[3] https://www.wfp.org/countries/indonesia

At the global stage, the SDGs Agenda has included the right to food as a stand-alone goal namely, Goal 2. “End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture.” The goal consists of eight targets ranging from ending hunger and malnutrition to agricultural productivity. While at the national level, the GoI has included five out of the eight global targets to be achieved by 2019.

Global Target National Target National Indicator
2.1 By 2030, end hunger and ensure access by all people, in particular the poor and people in vulnerable situations, including infants, to safe, nutritious and sufficient food all year round; 1.    Increased nutritional status of the people. a.     Decreased prevalence of underweight among children under five years old to 17% (2013: 19,9%);

b.     Decreased prevalence of chronic energy deficiency of pregnant women (KEK) to 18% by 2019 (2013: 24,3%);

c.     Decreased proportion of people with calorie intake of less than 1400 kkal/kapita/day to 8.5% in 2019 (2015: 17,4%).
2.2 By 2030, end all forms of malnutrition, including achieving, by 2025, the internationally agreed targets on stunting and wasting in children under 5 years of age, and address the nutritional needs of adolescent girls, pregnant and lactating women and older persons; 1.    Increased nutritional status of the people;

2.    Improvement of disease control for communicable and non-communicable diseases, as well as the improvement of environmental health.

 a.   Decreased prevalence of stunting (short and very short) among children under two years old to 22.8% by 2019 (2013: 32,9%);

b.   Decreased prevalence of wasting among children under five years old to 9.5% by 2019 (2013: 12%);

c.   Retained prevalence of obesity among children under five years old to 11.9% by 2019 (2013: 11,9%);

d.   Decreased prevalence of anemia among pregnant women to 28% by 2019 (2013: 37,1%);

e.   Increased percentage of infants under six month old to receive exclusive breastfeeding to 50% by 2019 (2013: 39%);

f.    Increased food consumption quality indicated by Desirable Dietary Pattern (PPH) to  92.5; and fish consumption rate to 54.5 kg/capita/year by 2019 (2015: 40,9 kg/capita/year).
2.3 By 2030, double the agricultural productivity and incomes of small-scale food producers, in particular women, indigenous peoples, family farmers, pastoralists and fishers, including through secure and equal access to land, other productive resources and inputs, knowledge, financial services, markets and opportunities for value addition and non-farm employment; 1.    Increased food availability from domestic production (RPJMN Book I, 6-147. a.    Increased availability of domestic food sources namely, rice, corn, soybeans, sugar, beef, fish, and salt by 2019;

b.    Distributed land tenures for farmers, peasants and fishermen;

c.    Developed agricultural and fishery sectors, particularly for poor farmers and fishermen.
2.4 By 2030, ensure sustainable food production systems and implement resilient agricultural practices that increase productivity and production, that help maintain ecosystems, that strengthen capacity for adaptation to climate change, extreme weather, drought, flooding and other disasters and that progressively improve land and soil quality; NA NA
2.5 By 2020, maintain the genetic diversity of seeds, cultivated plants and farmed and domesticated animals and their related wild species, including through soundly managed and diversified seed and plant banks at the national, regional and international levels, and promote access to and fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the utilization of genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge, as internationally agreed; 1.    Provision of the Guidance System for an Efficient Corps Seeding Institution in the Accurate Corps Cultivation Implementation Areas;

2.    Availability of a system design for the provision and distribution of seeds;

3.    The availability of a concept for the development of 1000  Seed-Independent Villages program;

4.    Distribution of subsidized seeds;

5.    Establishment of 1000 Seed-Independent Villages

 a.   The provision of efficient development, supervision, monitoring and certification systems for food seeding, farming and fishery in appropriate food cultivation location in 32 provinces;

b.   Developed programs and development in 1000 of Seed-Independent Villages by 2019.
2.a Increase investment, including through enhanced international cooperation, in rural infrastructure, agricultural research and extension services, technology development and plant and livestock gene banks in order to enhance agricultural productive capacity in developing countries, in particular least developed countries; 1.    Increased investment in agricultural sector. a.   10% increase in export values of agricultural products;

b.   5% increase in import values of agricultural products;

c.   6% increase in domestic investment;

d.   8% increase in foreign investment.
2.b Correct and prevent trade restrictions and distortions in world agricultural markets, including through the parallel elimination of all forms of agricultural export subsidies and all export measures with equivalent effect, in accordance with the mandate of the Doha Development Round; NA N/A
2.c Adopt measures to ensure the proper functioning of food commodity markets and their derivatives and facilitate timely access to market information, including on food reserves, in order to help limit extreme food price volatility. 1.    Stability of food prices (unhulled rice/milled rice) at the producers level;

2.    Stability of food prices (unhulled rice/milled rice) at the consumers level;

 a.   In accordance with government purchasing price (HPP) CV < 10%

Food Availability

The national targets reflects a great commitment to secure the availability of food, including by facilitating agricultural, farming and fishery equipment, although it is important to also make clear emphasis on the target groups to ensure that small-scale and poor farmers, fishermen and peasants are prioritized to receive the facilities.

Moreover, a focus should also be brought on the capability of poor farmers, peasants and fishermen to sustain their lives, as it will also affect their capability to produce agricultural, farming and fish for greater food consumption. In the Agenda 6.7.1 of the RPJMN, the government is planning to open more access to agricultural finance for farmers, however, without taking into account the ability of small-scale farmers to provide their basic needs, it will be difficult for them to access such assistance or to keep a good credit performance. To this end, it is necessary to include an indicator on the average income of small-scale food producers to help the government to decide on the best interventions to improve the productivity of small-scale farmers.

Food Accessibility & Adequacy

The ability of everyone to physically and economically to obtain food is an important indicator to assess the fulfillment of the right to adequate food by the government. FAO indicates that most of those who go hungry are to be found among poor consumers who, on average, spend 40% of their income to purchase food,[1] while in Indonesia, the average spending on food are still at 46.45%,[2] this means that most Indonesians are yet to be food secured.

As volatile food prices can hamper food accessibility, especially for poor people, an indicator aims at measuring the market price of food is necessary to assess the functionality of food commodity market. Furthermore, as it has been previously mentioned, most people in Indonesia purchase their food in food markets, this also means that an indicator related to accessibility of food markets is also important, such as all-season cost of transportation to the nearest food market and the availability of all-seasons road to access food markets.

With regard to adequacy, in order to have a more in-depth data on the real experience of the people about food accessibility, it will be very useful for the GoI to consider the indicator to assess the severity of food insecurity in the population, based on the Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES).

[1] FAO, The Right to Food Handbooks: Assessment of the Right to Food, page: 9. Available at: http://www.fao.org/righttofood/knowledge-centre/right-to-food-hanbooks/en/

[2] BPS, Persentase Pengeluaran Rata-rata per Kapita Sebulan Menurut Kelompok Barang, Indonesia tahun 2002-2014, available at: https://www.bps.go.id/linkTabelStatis/view/id/937

Vulnerable Groups

The national targets have appropriately taken into account women and children in with regard to food adequacy, however there is no specific targets on other vulnerable groups such as indigenous peoples and people with disability.

As many as 48 million of indigenous people in Indonesia live near or around forests[1] and still practice traditional farming. Therefore, land cultivation is strongly related to the groups access to food. The OHCHR and FAO joint factsheet argues that “The realization of indigenous peoples’ right to food depends crucially on their access to and control over the natural resources on their ancestral lands, as they often feed themselves by cultivating these lands or by collecting food…The confiscation of lands without the free, prior and informed consent of the indigenous peoples concerned and the lack of legal recognition of indigenous forms of landownership are serious obstacles to the realization of the right to food.”[2]

Therefore, it is important to also put specific indicators focusing on the availability of lands for indigenous groups to practice their traditional farming in relation to adequate access to food for them.

There are approximately 24 million of people with disability in Indonesia,[3] and many are living in poverty, in fact, people with disabilities in Indonesia are 30 to 50 percent more likely to be poor and unemployed,[4] which also means experiencing food insecurity. In addition to economic incapable to purchase food, people with disability, particularly those with limited mobility, are difficult to access food markets to purchase food, resulting in a greater vulnerability in terms of accessing the right to adequate food. In light of the severe conditions that people with disability may deal with to access food, in comparison to those without disability, it is important to include indicators capturing the accessibility of food for disabled people.

[1] See, UN Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing, paragraph 48-49.

[2] OHCHR & FAO, Factsheet 34: The Right to Food, page: 18. Available at: http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Publications/FactSheet34en.pdf

[3] ILO, Inklusi Penyandang Disabilitas di Indonesia, available at: http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/—asia/—ro-bangkok/—ilo-jakarta/documents/publication/wcms_233426.pdf

[4] UNPDF, page: 16-17

In light of the above gap analyses, we propose the following additional indicators to strengthen the  impacts of the national development strategy to end hunger and strengthen food security.

National Target National Indicators Suggested HRBA Indicators
2.1 End hunger and ensure access to food and nutritions for all. a.     Decreased prevalence of underweight among children under five years old to 17% (2013: 19,9%);

b.     Decreased prevalence of chronic energy deficiency of pregnant women (KEK) to 18% by 2019 (2013: 24,3%);

c.     Decreased proportion of people with calorie intake of less than 1400 kkal/kapita/day to 8.5% in 2019 (2015: 17,4%).

 –    Prevalence of moderate or severe food insecurity in the population, based on the Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES);

–    Proportion of indigenous people and people with disability with chronic energy deficiency;

–    Proportion of indigenous people and people with disability with calorie intake of less than 1400 kkal/kapita/day;

–    Proportion of household expenditure on food;

–    Proportion of expenditure on food among poor people, indigenous people and people  with disability;

–    Proportion of poor people, indigenous people and people with disability vulnerable to consumption of unsafe food;

–    Percentage of rural households without adequate access to food markets;

–    Percentage of people with disability without adequate access to food market;

–    Proportion of people exposed to public information and education campaigns (including school instruction) regarding nutrition and food safety.
2.2. End hunger and any types of malnutritions. a.   Decreased prevalence of stunting (short and very short) among children under two years old to 22.8% by 2019 (2013: 32,9%);b.   Decreased prevalence of wasting among children under five years old to 9.5% by 2019 (2013: 12%);c.   Retained prevalence of obesity among children under five years old to 11.9% by 2019 (2013: 11,9%);d.   Decreased prevalence of anemia among pregnant women to 28% by 2019 (2013: 37,1%);e.   Increased percentage of infants under six month old to receive exclusive breastfeeding to 50% by 2019 (2013: 39%);f.    Increased food consumption quality indicated by Desirable Dietary Pattern (PPH) to  92.5; and fish consumption rate to 54.5 kg/capita/year by 2019 (2015: 40,9 kg/capita/year).
2.3 Double the agricultural productivity and income of small-scale food producers. a.    Increased availability of domestic food sources namely, rice, corn, soybeans, sugar, beef, fish, and salt by 2019;

b.    Distributed land tenures for farmers, peasants and fishermen;

c.    Developed agricultural and fishery sectors, particularly for poor farmers and fishermen.

 –    Average income of small-scale food producers, by sex and indigenous status;

–    Proportion of indigenous groups with recognized land tenures;
2.4. Ensure sustainable food production systems. a.    Establishment of sustainable food agricultural zones;

b.    Distributed facilities for agricultural, farming and fishery products, particularly fertilizers, seeds and agricultural/fishery equipments .

 –    Percentage of indigenous lands (tanah ulayat) maintained as sustainable agricultural zones;

–    Percentage of small-scale producers and indigenous people facilitated with agricultural/fishery equipments.

–    Food diversification policy in each region that is adapted to their respective sources.

The UN Country system in Indonesia is committed to play a strong role to assist the GoI to achieve SDGs with three main modalities namely policy advocacy and advisory, capacity building and knowledge sharing. With regard to ending hunger, achieving food security and improving nutrition and promoting sustainable agriculture the GoI will benefit from close partnership with FAO and WFP to strengthen the capacity to implement all National targets regarding to the second goal of SDGs. Additionally, the UNICEF will also provide various technical assistance to ensure food security among children.

 

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