FAO director-general Qu Dongyu delivers a speech at the 35th Session of FAO’s Regional Conference for Asia and the Pacific (APRC), held on Thursday (September 3, 2020). (HO-FAO Indonesia)
Government representatives from 46 countries in the Asia-Pacific region gathered online on Thursday to examine the state of regional food security and highlighted the need to build a more resilient food system in the region.
The 35th session of FAO's Regional Conference for Asia and the Pacific (APRC) put special emphasis on the implications of the spread of the coronavirus and its impact on food systems region-wide, according to a release issued by FAO Indonesia, which was received in Jakarta on Thursday.
The Asia-Pacific region is home to more than half of the world's undernourished. While the prevalence of hunger has decreased slightly, the region is far behind the pace needed to eradicate hunger and malnutrition by 2030, the Sustainable Development Goal deadline set by the global community to eliminate hunger and malnutrition in all its forms, the statement said.
Speaking to more than 400 participants of the online conference from Rome, FAO director-general Qu Dongyu highlighted the negative effects of the pandemic, which have been felt across the entire food system.
"Measures to control virus outbreaks are disrupting global food supply chains. Border restrictions and lockdowns are destroying livelihoods and hindering food transport. Food loss and waste is increasing, as farmers must resort to dumping perishables, and many people in urban centers are struggling to access fresh food," he noted.
Qu stressed that smallholder farmers and their families, food workers in all sectors, and those living in a commodity- and tourism-dependent economies, are particularly vulnerable.
"They urgently need our attention. We need to re-examine our food systems and value chains, make greater use of existing agricultural innovations and technologies, and consider new ones," he said.
In response to the pandemic, the FAO has launched the FAO COVID-19 Response and Recovery Program, which allows donors to leverage the organization's convening power, real-time data, early warning systems, and technical expertise to provide direct support, where and when it is needed the most.
The FAO Regional Conference serves as a forum for addressing current and emerging regional trends and challenges. This year's conference mulled the FAO's new Hand-in-Hand Initiative.
The initiative focuses on improving the potential of disadvantaged areas and groups of the population, in line with the UN's commitment to "leave no one behind”. (ANTARA)
The Indonesian Task Force for COVID-19 Response, Monday, reported 2,743 fresh cases in the country over the last 24 hours, bringing the tally to 174,796, and 1,774 recoveries, thereby totaling 125,959 people recovering from COVID-19.
Furthermore, 74 people died of COVID-19, bringing the death toll to 7,417 since the Indonesian government announced its first confirmed COVID-19 cases on March 2, 2020.
A total of 15,305 samples were subject to examination, bringing the total number of specimens examined in the country, so far, to 2,239,642.
Jakarta remained the city with the largest recorded rise in the number of fresh cases, reaching 1,049, followed by 323 cases in East Java, 179 cases in Central Java, 145 cases in West Java, and 129 cases in Bali.
Meanwhile, East Java Province recorded the highest death toll within a day, notably 21 people succumbing to the disease, followed by 14 deaths in Jakarta.
The largest number of recoveries on Monday was recorded in Jakarta, reaching 404, followed by 383 people recovering from the disease in East Java.
The capital city recorded 40,086 confirmed cases, so far, followed by 33,543 cases in East Java, 13,964 cases in Central Java, 11,978 cases in South Sulawesi, and 11,063 cases in West Java.
The total number of recoveries in Jakarta has reached 30,538, while 26,139 in East Java, 9,247 in South Sulawesi, 8,973 in Central Java, and 6,150 in West Java. (ANTARA)
President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) interacts with recipients of productive presidential aid for micro-enterprises in Yogyakarta on August 28, 2020. (ANTARA/HO-BNI/sh)
The Finance Ministry is focusing on three strategies to keep Indonesia from plunging into a recession.
The three strategies are accelerating the National Economic Recovery (PEN) Program, and strengthening government consumption as well as public consumption, head of the Financial Policy Center of the ministry’s Fiscal Policy Agency (BKF), Adi Budiarso, said in a meeting with Commission VI of the House of Representatives, which oversees industry and investment, in Jakarta on Monday.
"Optimizing state expenditure has become important to stimulate the economy," Budiarso remarked.
Efforts are being made to expedite the implementation of the PEN program by improving budget absorption, especially for the program, which has been included in the budget execution list (DIPA), he elaborated.
As of August 26, 2020, budget absorption for the national economic recovery program has reached Rp192.53 trillion, or 27.7 percent of the allocated budget of Rp695.2 trillion.
To increase state consumption and thereby encourage economic growth, the government has accelerated the disbursement of the 13th-month salary to civil servants, Budiarso said.
Good expenditure, he said, is targeted to support the implementation of the new work-from-home (WFH) system and the digitalization of bureaucracy.
Capital expenditure would be reallocated to support the development of infrastructure for public service digitalization and the relaxation of the policy on good and services procurement.
To improve public consumption, he said, the government has accelerated expenditure on social aid, among other steps, by increasing the amount of aid, its frequency, and then extend the period of disbursement.
Currently, the government has disbursed Rp2.4 million per person in productive aid to 12 million micro, small, and medium enterprise owners.
The government has also provided aid to formal workers earning a salary of less than Rp5 million per month, along with a microloan (KUR) rate subsidy. (ANTARA)
An illustration of the online 2020 Population Census of Indonesia, which covered 19 percent of the country's total population.
According to the records of the Central Statistics Agency (BPS), 54.1 million Indonesians registered for the population census, which was conducted online from 15 February 2020 to 29 May 2020.
"This number is very large because it is equivalent to almost twice as much as Australia's population. It is a very encouraging achievement, bearing in mind that this is the first population census conducted online in Indonesia,” said the head of BPS, Suhariyanto, as the September 2020 Population Census kicked off online in Jakarta on Monday.
Suhariyanto also lauded all parties and communities who contributed to the success of the online population census.
The census, however, is not yet complete because the 51.4 million Indonesians who took part in the online census account for 19 percent of the country's total population. Around 81 percent of Indonesians remain to be covered by the census.
Thus, starting September 1, 2020, population census officers will go to the field to do a census count to record population data that is yet to be recorded.
Suhariyanto explained that population data is important for planning in various sectors ranging from food, housing, education, health to transportation.
"There can be no precise policy without accurate data. To obtain complete population data, BPS together with 54 other countries will conduct a population census in 2020, " he added.
The first objective of conducting a population census is to provide de facto and de jure data on the number, composition, distribution, and characteristics of the Indonesian population.
The second objective is to provide demographic parameters as well as other population characteristics for population projection purposes.
“Thus, the data from the 2020 population census is not only important for current planning, but also for anticipating what will happen to Indonesia in the future," Suhariyanto noted.
The population census officers, who will go door-to-door to collect data on the country's citizens, will implement strict health protocols such as wearing face masks, maintaining physical distancing, and washing hands, amid the COVID-19 pandemic. (ANTARA)