Malanginspirasi.com – The Faculty of Agriculture at Universitas Brawijaya (FP UB) has emphasized the urgent need for comprehensive transformation in Indonesia’s national agriculture sector through the 2025 Agricultural Development and Food Security Outlook.
The event was held at Samantha Krida Hall as part of the 65th Dies Natalis celebrations of FP UB on Wednesday (5/11/2025).
Dean of FP UB, Prof. Dr. Ir. Mangku Purnomo, M.Si., Ph.D., stressed that food security has become a national priority. It requires involvement from ministries, authorities, and the wider community.
However, he warned that the government’s substantial investments in the sector must be rigorously evaluated to ensure meaningful results.
“Massive investments cannot yield insignificant outcomes. We must guarantee real, impactful outputs,” he stated.
Mangku also highlighted the weakness of Indonesia’s food industry ecosystem, pointing to numerous issues that demand urgent fixes. Particularly in regulations and inter-sectoral connectivity.
“We lack a robust food industry ecosystem. Regulations and cross-sector linkages must be strengthened to create an integrated national food system,” Mangku explained.
Strengthening the Food Ecosystem
In his view, agricultural transformation should encompass key areas: technology-driven efficiency and productivity, farmer cooperative empowerment, modernization of inflation-triggering horticultural production (such as chili and onions), and more substantive agrarian reform.
He underscored the critical role of farmers in this shift:
“Smallholder farmers must integrate into larger systems, for example through cooperatives, to cultivate land more efficiently,” he added.
Meanwhile, Dr. Sri Nuryanti, S.TP., M.P., Director of Food Vulnerability Control at the National Food Agency (Bapanas), attended the 65th Dies Natalis event.
She affirmed that agriculture and human resources (SDM) are pivotal in building national food resilience.
“If agricultural human resources and natural resources are managed effectively, 70 percent of food security challenges would already be resolved,” Sri remarked.
She further stressed the need for synergy between food policies, infrastructure, and logistics to prevent development from sacrificing productive farmland.
“Roads, housing, and logistics connectivity must balance without damaging permanent rice fields,” she added.
In closing, Prof. Mangku announced that FP UB will annually release the Agricultural Outlook as evaluation material and policy input for the government.
“This is our inaugural presentation of agricultural performance outlook. It will become an annual tradition. We hope our research findings contribute to national policies for modern, efficient, and sustainable agriculture,” he concluded.
