Abstract

From the implementation of the New Order government's first five-year development plan (Repelita I) in 1969 until the mid-189s, the overriding objective of Indonesian food policy was to increase rice production so as to make the country self-sufficient, at a relatively high level of consumption, in its basic staple food. The goal of rice self-sufficiency was pursued through a centrally directed program of production and area targets, subsidized distribution of inputs with extension services, investment in irrigation and marketing infrastructure, and a remunerative floor price to farmers. With the achievement of rice self-sufficiency in 1985, the focus of Indonesia's food policy was broadened to include the promotion of secondary food-crop production. But the basic mechanism of centrally directed supply targets and input distribution remained the means of encouraging diversification of the food-crop sector.