U.S. Honors Indonesian Advances at Agricultural Biotechnology Showcase

Jakarta: On May 22, United States Embassy Jakarta Chargé d'Affaires Heather C. Merritt participated in the Indonesia Agricultural Biotechnology Showcase organized by the U.S. Embassy in collaboration with Indonesia’s Biosafety Commission (KKH). The event, held at the @america center in Jakarta, celebrated Indonesia’s advances in the field of agricultural biotechnology, with speakers coming from all over Indonesia as well as the United States.

Indonesia is one of 32 countries in the world cultivating genetically engineered (GE) crops, and already plants pest resistant corn, drought tolerant sugarcane, and late blight resistant potato. Other innovative products are in the pipeline but face costly and interrupted approval processes that, if streamlined and made more efficient, can help Indonesia maximize its biotechnology research, development, and production.

“Now more than ever, Indonesia is focused on food security, improved agricultural production, and also, of course, nutrition,” said CDA Merritt as quoted from U.S Embassy statement. 

“There are many aspects to improving these areas, from creating more seamless inter- and intraregional trade, to modernizing agricultural equipment, to innovating new varieties of crops through the most advanced biotechnology. By the end of our biotechnology showcase, we hope that each one of you will find opportunities to help in some way as we accelerate Indonesia’s biotech progress,” added Merritt.

As part of the showcase, CDA Merritt visited six booths where guests could learn more about GE products currently available in Indonesia or still undergoing research and development. Five Indonesian products were on display:  pest resistant corn, drought tolerant sugarcane, late blight resistant potato, vitamin A-fortified rice, and rapid growth catfish; in addition to U.S. soybeans – the United States is a reliable supplier of many GE products that Indonesia’s food manufacturing and textile sectors depend on as raw materials to expand their industries, such as cotton, feed ingredients, and soybeans.  

During the panel sessions, researchers discussed the journey of each of these products – from research and development to the approval processes – and the challenges they faced. Notably, the late blight resistant potato was a collaboration between several U.S. universities, including Michigan State University and the Ministry of Agriculture and National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) that started in 2006 and was finally fully approved in 2024.

Professor David Douches of Michigan State University presented on this collaboration, stating: “Our goal is to bring late blight resistant potatoes to the farmers. Late blight is the disease that caused the Irish potato famine over a hundred fifty years ago, and it’s still a problem today. We now have the tools to bring an end to late blight, a multi-billion-dollar disease problem worldwide. Here in Indonesia, where conditions are very good for late blight, farmers may have to spray fungicide 20 or 30 times a year just to control the crop. What we’ve been able to do with biotechnology is take genes from wild species of potatoes and stack these three genes into one potato to give us resistance to the late blight disease. This late blight potato is a safe product, and it benefits the environment and the community.”

The stacked genes variety of late blight resistant potato, still underdevelopment pending additional funding, has the potential to cut fungicide applications by 90 percent.

Nutrition experts also presented the nutritional benefits of products of biotechnology. GE soybeans from around the world, particularly from the United States, provide Indonesians with a reliable supply of high-quality, affordable protein.

Vitamin A-fortified rice, known as golden rice, shows biotechnology can even be used to nutritionally enhance a commonly consumed product like rice. Golden rice can help Indonesia reduce its prevalence of Vitamin A deficiency, which can cause vision loss and a weakened immune system.

The showcase also featured a cooking demonstration by Chef Giovani Vergio who prepared three dishes using Indonesian GE potato and U.S. GE soybeans, which audience members had the opportunity to taste for themselves.

The event ended with a panel of farmers with experience cultivating GE crops. A GE corn farmer in the Philippines participated in this panel virtually while three Indonesian farmers traveled from Lumajang, Bandung, and Sumbawa to participate in this panel in person, sharing their experience cultivating GE sugarcane, GE potatoes, and GE corn respectively. The farmers fielded many questions from the audience made up of Indonesian government officials from over a dozen different government agencies as well as non-government food and agricultural stakeholders and university students.

The Chairman of KKH Bambang Prasetya noted the importance of the transparent interagency process to fully approve each GE product in circulation in Indonesia, although there are still many efficiencies to be gained with increased Government of Indonesia support.

In his remarks at the event, after describing the current long, convoluted approval process involving many steps at several government agencies, he urged the government officials in the audience to “facilitate regulations to make (the approval process for GE products) smoother, as that would be aligned with President Prabowo’s priority to accelerate Indonesia’s food security.”

Within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Indonesia is behind only the Philippines and Vietnam in terms of biotechnology innovation. With streamlined regulations and increased support and collaboration, Indonesia could become the region’s leader in biotechnology acceptance.