COVID-19, Agriculture, and Food Security in Indonesia

Abstract

COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted every part of human life, both economic and non-economic, including agriculture. As a country where many people still rely on agriculture, Indonesia faces a complicated situation if the pandemic continues because food production will be affected. Indonesia announced its first COVID-19 case in March 2020; in response to this, the government applied limitations on economic and non-economic activities. These actions slowed the commercial and industrial sectors, and many people lost their jobs, with middle- and low-income citizens being the hardest hit. The situation presents a high risk for food security due to the decrease in purchasing power and food supply chains not being able to run normally. This study aims to arrange food security strategies post-COVID-19 pandemic. This paper presents, to overcome the food-security issue after COVID-19 in Indonesia, emergency strategies such as controlling food price and providing subsidies for farmer are needed. And long term strategies such as making the food supply chain more effective and increasing food diversification also required. All people and parties need to participate in every relief program for any program to fight the COVID-19 pandemic to succeed.