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 aremunerative 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.