Professor of IPB: Released the Food Trap with the Local Food
In the commemoration of the world Food Day, celebrated every 16 October, three Professors of Bogor Agricultural University (IPB) contributed their thoughts by holding a joint press conference in Campus of IPB Baranangsiang, Bogor, Sunday (16/10). One of the Professors who explained his thinking was Prof.Dr. Made Astawan.
He said, at the moment Indonesia was still stuck in the consumption pattern that relied on two sources of carbohydrates, i.e. rice and wheat flour. Since 2005, the majority of the community in Indonesia in various income groups had already exposed to the “food trap” namely only having two staple food, i.e. noodles and rice.
“For a great nation like Indonesia, this condition is very dangerous. If only resting on two essential food especially of the materials that are imported, the food security of Indonesia is easily threatened,” he said.
Though its true, he explained, Indonesia had a high diversity in the provision of the food sources of carbohydrates. There were more than 30 kinds of food with the nutritional composition that was no inferior to rice and wheat flour.
According to him, to be free from the food trap, it was necessary to optimize the utilization of the local food. There were three optimization strategies namely the evaluation of the government policy particularly on providing the rice for the poor without considering the cultural and the regional food patterns that were already existed; reviving the optimization of the local food cultivation; and it was necessary to have the diversification programs of the processed products based on the local food.
“One of the diversification programs is the development of the local food processing business based on the starches. This is due to the limited storability of the fresh products. So the wheat flour can be substituted,” he explained.
The wheat flour had several advantages, more durable, easier to store, easier to transport and sale, as well as more convenient and practical in its application in the manufacture of various products, such as noodles, analog rice, cakes, and so on.
Other than that, the consumption of the local food was good for the health. The high death due to the degenerative disease shows the diet of the population which was unhealthy. Such as the food consumption which was less diverse, balanced and nutritious as well as due to the high use of sugar, salt and fat in the food processing.
“This disease appears because of the way of the bad eating. Since it was the adoption of the Western style of diet. Try returning to the local food. The local food is rich in the phytochemical compounds. These compounds are good to prevent the diseases. For example, the curd (the buffalo milk which is fermented). The good microbes of the curd are good for the digestion. Because we do not appreciate the nutritional value of the curd, the good microbes that exist in the curd are taken by Japanese scientists, and now are marketed in the form of functional drinks. The innovation is the key word to make the local food acceptable and to attract the public attention,” he explained.(zul)
