MALANG – Gelar Pangan Nusantara (GPN) event in commemoration of the 42nd World Food Day officially began, Saturday (22/10), at Brawijaya University, Malang.
This event was held by the National Food Agency (NFA) to raise awareness and enthusiasm in strengthening national food security.
The Head of NFA Arief Prasetyo Adi said, this year’s GPN ran with the theme “Together We Create a Strong Food Sector, Become a Sovereign Indonesia”.
The theme represented the spirit and an invitation to the community and all food stakeholders to jointly realize food security as a pillar for the upholding of state sovereignty.
“Through this event, we want to make World Food Day a momentum to replenish our spirit in developing and strengthening the national food sector,” said Arief.
“Therefore, through Gelar Pangan Nusantara, the National Food Agency holds a series of educational events, various competitions that encourage creativity, and entertainment, all of which contain messages and campaigns around efforts to strengthen food,” he continued.
Arief said that one of the campaigns held was the Movement to Eat Delicious, Eat Healthy, Eat DBS (Diverse, Balanced, and Safe), which was simply reflected in the composition of the food on the plate.
The movement explained that 1/3 of the plate is staple food–it does not have to be rice, the other 1/3 is vegetables, 1/6 for side dishes, and the rest 1/6 is fruit.
This composition is prepared to meet the Expected Food Pattern (PPH) standard and the Energy Adequacy Rate standard.
There was also a campaign to encourage people in reducing Food Loss and Waste or food waste from farm to table.
They also held the socialization of the Daily Egg Eating Movement to improve community nutrition and reduce the prevalence of stunting, considering that eggs are nutrient-rich and affordable food.
Campaigns related to the love of local food are packaged through drawing competitions for elementary and junior high school students.
This, according to Arief, is to instill awareness of the importance of developing local food and diversity in consumption from an early age.
“We hope that the commemoration of World Food Day will be a milestone to build public awareness of these issues,” said Arief.
“Given that we are currently in the midst of a potential global food crisis, although Indonesia is far from the criteria for a food crisis because it has sufficient food stocks, we still have to be vigilant,” he continued.
Arief explained that the community can contribute to helping reduce the potential for food crises by implementing a DBS consumption pattern, zero food loss and waste, and consuming local foods that are rich in nutrients such as eggs.
To ensure that food security programs run well, Arief invited all food stakeholders along with the penta helix sector consisting of academics, business, government, community and media to continue to strengthen collaboration.
“The implementation of the GPN on Brawijaya University is also inseparable from efforts to strengthen collaboration between NFA and academics. As NFA, an institution that carries out government duties in the food sector, of course, cannot run alone,” he said.
As a concrete form of collaboration, this event also included the signing of an MoU between NFA and Brawijaya University regarding education, research, and community service in the food sector.
In addition, a cooperation agreement was signed on the synergy of education, research, and community service to improve community nutrition through diversification of food consumption, balanced and safe nutrition, between the Deputy for Consumption Diversification and Food Safety of NFA and the Faculty of Health Sciences, Universitas Brawijaya.
“The collaboration in the food sector at the moment of World Food Day is in line with the direction of the President of the Republic of Indonesia, Joko Widodo, who is very serious in dealing with food problems,” said Arief.
“The president advised not only to solve problems macro and micro, but to be detailed, one by one and strengthen collaboration,” he continued.
Meanwhile, the Vice President of the Republic of Indonesia K.H. Ma’ruf Amin, in his speech hoped that the implementation of the 2022 GPN could be a starting point for building synergies in the development of the national food system.
He requested that the theme, “Together We Create a Strong Food Sector, Become a Sovereign Indonesia”, became a shared commitment to implement better food management in the future.
Deputy Governor of East Java Emil Elestianto Dardak in his remarks said, Gelar Pangan Nusantara is an event to inflame the spirit of supporting food security programs.
“Through today’s event, let’s keep up the spirit, supporting the National Food Agency program to make the food of Indonesia more secure, both from supply and demand,” he said.
According to Emil, the existence of the National Food Agency in the future is to maintain balance. Not only keeping prices from rising, but also keeping prices from falling.
“The state must be present, that’s why the National Food Agency exists. However, the implementation must still be done together, hand in hand,” he explained.
The Chancellor of Universitas Brawijaya Widodo welcomed the execution of the GPN at the Brawijaya University.
According to him, Brawijaya University is ready to support the national food security program through the development of innovation and technology.
The GPN was held for two days, from 22–23 October 2022, at the Brawijaya University, Malang.
This event presented various events such as the Food Expo which provides various food commodities at low prices, Food and Nutrition Symposium, talk shows, Local Food Creation Café Festival, DBS Menu Creation Cooking Demo, business matching, coaching clinic, Poster Competition themed World Food Day, Competition Drawing with the theme of local food for elementary and junior high school students, and various entertainments.
Those events were free and open to the public.
