Zulkifli Hasan Urges Pattimura Students to Find Solutions for Indonesia’s Food Security

Zulkifli Hasan wants students in Maluku to do more than absorb government policy. He urged them to question its foundations, challenge assumptions and offer solutions grounded in knowledge.

Speaking at a public lecture at Pattimura University in Ambon, the coordinating minister for food said universities should prepare young people who can understand the country’s problems and respond quickly. “Campuses must be places to discuss and criticize policies. We learn quickly because the nation’s problems require quick solutions,” he said.

Hasan described the marine and fisheries sector as central to sustainable national food security. Food policy, he said, directly affects people whose livelihoods depend on farming, livestock, fishing and other food-related businesses. “They are our brothers and sisters, they are our families, they are part of us. We cannot pretend not to know. Farmers, fishers and livestock breeders are part of us, and we must stand up for them,” he said.

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Campuses must be places to discuss and criticize policies. We learn quickly because the nation’s problems require quick solutions.

He also linked food self-sufficiency to the welfare of people working in the food sector. Dependence on imports, he argued, can put domestic farmers under pressure when foreign products compete in the local market.

Pattimura Rector Fredy Leiwakabessy said the university was ready to support the government’s food-security agenda, particularly by developing marine and fisheries resources. The university operates a roughly 12-hectare Marine Station in Hila village, Central Maluku, with hatchery and aquaculture ponds, floating net cages, cold storage and an ice plant. The facilities, however, were not yet fully functioning.

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They are our brothers and sisters, they are our families, they are part of us. We cannot pretend not to know. Farmers, fishers and livestock breeders are part of us, and we must stand up for them.