We are all familiar with the right to food, or the trendy UN buzzword “food security,” but have you heard of the concept of “food sovereignty”? 

You see, food sovereignty has not garnered the international attention it yearns for. To date, many dignitaries and students have struggled to differentiate between food sovereignty, food sufficiency, and food security in a comprehensive and succinct manner. Food security is ensuring that people have adequate access to food. On the other hand, food sovereignty emphasizes ecologically appropriate production, distribution, and consumption of food through sustainable agricultural practices.

Last June, my husband and I visited a coffee shop in Canggu, popular among wanderlust foreigners in Bali. My husband shared that in his very first visit in 2009, Canggu was adorned with paddy fields. Today, paddy fields in Canggu and many areas in the “Island of the Gods” are converted into posh restaurants, clothing boutiques, and even gaudy pubs frequented by wasted partygoers, undermining the food sovereignty of the local Balinese

In 1996, during the World Food Summit, La Via Campesina first introduced the word food sovereignty, which is broadly defined as “the right of peoples to healthy and culturally appropriate food produced through ecologically sound and sustainable methods, and their right to define their own food and agriculture systems”. La Via Campesina’s definition of food sovereignty is cited in the 2007 Nyéléni Declaration and was later embedded in the United Nations (UN) Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People working in Rural Areas in 2018. 

It was also in the same year that the indigenous Ogoni people of Nigeria stood up against the State-owned Nigerian Petroleum Company’s destructive activities in their ancestral domain. In SERAC and CESR v. Nigeria, the African Commission ruled that the Nigerian military regime “destroyed food sources through its security forces and state oil company” and “allowed private oil companies to destroy food sources through terror.” 

Almost three decades later, only a handful of UN member states have incorporated it into their local laws or national action plans. One of these countries is Indonesia, which recognizes the right to food as a human right in its local context, as well as the government’s commitment to food security and food sovereignty, as outlined in Law No. 18 of 2012.

The Indonesian government aims to stop importing rice by 2025. It is now developing so-called export-oriented villages, which will produce products such as palm sugar and corn, and provide humanitarian aid in the region. Even Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto lauded the police’s efforts in supporting food sovereignty measures by boosting corn production and implementing the Makan Bergizi Gratis (free school lunches) program.

But Indonesia is an overpopulated country harboring an insatiable hunger for rice, which is why the country imports rice from Thailand, Vietnam, and Pakistan. Apart from this, the increasing conversion of land, where commercial or industrial establishments replace paddy fields or farms, also poses a threat to Indonesia’s food sovereignty. The government’s productivist and export-oriented policy framework does not align with peasant organizations' efforts to promote organic farming for food sovereignty. (Schreer and Padmanabhan, 2020). 

Despite being an archipelago with a variety of fish and seafood, 11.34 percent of people in Indonesia’s fisheries sector were classified as poor in 2019. The country’s fishing sector is bleak, with USD 130 million in fish imports from January to August 2024. Cases of stunting and malnourishment of children, especially in their formative years, remained at a critical level below the World Health Organization’s standards of less than 20 percent back in 2022. 

In the Kalimantan and Sumatra provinces, palm oil plantations emerge as a profitable source of income for companies, but also as a source of human rights violations. For example, in Kalimantan, Human Rights Watch reported that PT Sintang Raya, a subsidiary of South Korean Deasang Corporation, conducted activities destroying farmlands and promoting land grabbing, and harassed villagers who protested this. In Papua, indigenous people are displaced from their ancestral lands because of government development projects, causing environmental destruction and food insecurity. Additionally, Papua’s abundant supply of root crops, such as taro and sago, remains uncultivated, partly due to the lack of support for Indigenous knowledge and local wisdom in agriculture. (Sugeng and Fitria, 2023).

Food sovereignty promotes equitable resource distribution and fair trade of agricultural products in the global food system. In a utopian food system, farmers and local people should determine their communities’ patterns of food production and consumption, not the local elites or multinational companies. To better implement Law No. 18, the Indonesian government can achieve food sovereignty, a prerequisite for food security, by introducing new technologies and developing high-quality seeds, which will enhance farmers' crop production.

Stakeholders must cease land grabbing and forced land conversion, and engage with grassroots organizations and indigenous communities towards a multi-stakeholder and holistic food chain, without leaving food producers deprived of food and hungry for change.

References: 

Abide by WTO, Omnibus Law Threatens Food Sovereignty. (2020, March 12). Indonesia for Global Justice.https://igj.or.id/2020/03/12/abide-by-wto-omnibus-law-threatens-food-sovereignty/?lang=en

Anna, Z. (2020, June 8). Fishers are one of the poorest professions in Indonesia, yet they are one of the happiest. The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/fishers-are-one-of-the-poorest-professions-in-indonesia-yet-they-are-one-of-the-happiest-139872

Antara News (2024, August 5). Food sovereignty prerequisite for Indonesia’s food security. https://en.antaranews.com/news/321287/food-sovereignty-prerequisite-for-indonesias-food-security

Antara News (2025, April 23). Prabowo eyes food sovereignty to strengthen regional humanitarian role. https://en.antaranews.com/news/352701/prabowo-eyes-food-sovereignty-to-strengthen-regional-humanitarian-role

Bhwana, P. G. (2024, August 15). Indonesia's growing dependence on imported rice makes food self-sufficiency hard to achieve: Indef. Tempo. https://en.tempo.co/read/1904176/indonesias-growing-dependence-on-imported-rice-makes-food-self-sufficiency-hard-to-achieve-indef

Prabowo Apresiasi Polri Inisiatif Bantu Tingkatkan Produksi Pangan. (2025, July). CNN Indonesia.https://www.cnnindonesia.com/nasional/20250701092547-20-1245436/prabowo-apresiasi-polri-inisiatif-bantu-tingkatkan-produksi-pangan

Purwanti, A. (2023, October 12). Land Conversion Threatens National Rice Production. Kompas.id; Harian Kompas. https://www.kompas.id/baca/english/2023/10/12/en-alih-fungsi-lahan-mengancam-produksi-padi-nasional

Schmidt, M., & Berdichevskiy, A. (2023, January 18). Indonesia’s paths to food sovereignty could help restore the global food system. Jakarta Globe. https://jakartaglobe.id/opinion/indonesias-paths-to-food-sovereignty-could-help-restore-the-global-food-system

Schreer, V., & Padmanabhan, M. (2020). The many meanings of organic farming: framing food security and food sovereignty in Indonesia. Organic Agriculture. 10, 327–338. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13165-019-00277-z

Sugeng., & Fitria, A. (2023). Food Sovereignty For Indonesia: The Epistemological Dimension of Knowledge and Variety of Local Food. Jurnal Analisis Hukum, p. 18-32. DOI: 10.38043/jah.v6i1.4179

Windarto. (2025, May 4). Indonesia Records Highest Rice Stock in Over Five Decades. Jakarta Globe. https://jakartaglobe.id/business/indonesia-records-highest-rice-stock-in-over-five-decades