REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, DENPASAR - The Food Law of 2012 laid a strategic basis for the government of President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo to achieve the three targets of food security, self-sufficiency and sovereignty, an agricultural expert said.

"The food law stipulates what Jokowi's government should give priority to, to develop the agricultural sector," Professor Dr. I Wayan Windia of Undaya University in Bali stated on Saturday.

Agricultural development will most likely be given priority, now that this archipelago, stretching from Sabang in the west to Merauke in the east, is known as a fertile country with high rainfall.

Furthermore, Windia believes that President Jokowi will be able to fulfill the pledges he took during his presidential campaign to achieve food security, self-sufficiency and sovereignty in the next five years. Indonesia's agricultural potential could be developed to create food sovereignty based on public prosperity, he reiterated.

"It depends on the government's will to allocate sizable funds to develop the agricultural sector seriously," Windia affirmed.

Shortly after his inauguration on Monday, President Jokowi reiterated his determination to make Indonesia self-reliant in food production within a couple of years during a teleconference with the Chairman of the Balinese Organic Fertilizer Producers Association, I Gede Sutapa.

"I hope all sides support the food self-sufficient program. Farmers should work hard to create food security," he said.

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