Prabowo claims self-sufficiency in eight food commodities as his approval ratings fall

President Prabowo Subianto told Indonesia's annual parliamentary session on Friday that the country has achieved self-sufficiency in eight food commodities and that its food supply is secure, the state news agency Antara reported. He also said the Supreme Audit Agency had identified savings of 112 trillion rupiah, about $6.2 billion, through its recommendations, Antara reported separately, and that his administration had enacted 121 policies in its first 21 months.

The South China Morning Post placed the speech in a different context, reporting that Prabowo defended his record at a time of falling approval ratings and that the claim of secure supply came even as the country faces the risk of extreme weather this year. The two accounts describe the same speech and differ in what they treat as the main point, which is worth noting rather than resolving.

Food self-sufficiency has been the organising goal of Prabowo's economic programme, pursued through expanded rice acreage, a free school meals scheme and state procurement. It is expensive. Import substitution in agriculture means growing crops domestically that could be bought more cheaply abroad, financed from the budget, and the resulting production is exposed to a single weather season rather than to a diversified set of suppliers.

Indonesia is the fourth most populous country in the world and a significant importer of wheat and, in most years, rice. What its government does with that demand affects prices well beyond its own borders.