At the Indonesian rice center, Jefferson Fellows
explore demonstration plots. 

Jefferson Fellows analyze food systems in Indonesia
(Jakarta, Indonesia)-Week two of the 2025 Jefferson Fellowships is in the books. Here in Indonesia, the fellows, 12 journalists from throughout the Asia-Pacific region, continued their reporting about food insecurity.

The program is sponsored by the East-West Center.

We took a number of interesting field trips this week, managing (mostly) to dodge Jakarta’s spirit-crushing traffic.

Among the trip we took were:
--Javara, “an Indonesian social enterprise dedicated to preserving the nation’s food biodiversity and indigenous food culture by introducing them to global markets.” We met the remarkable Helianti Hilman, founder and director. She led us through a cooking demonstration and presentation about Javara’s marketing strategy. 

Arif Ahmad, Indonesian journalist,
demonstrates his cooking skills
at Javara.

--The National Center for Rice Farming Assembly and Modernization, where we learned about efforts to cultivate new rice varieties and introduce them to Indonesian farmers.

--CNN, where we had a revealing discussion about reporting food insecurity. Especially interesting was the discussion about which stories audiences prefer. Not surprisingly, the most-clicked and viewed stories were about the ‘kitchen economy’ that includes food prices and safety.

--The Research Institute for Environment and Climate Change, where the fellows reported about a groundbreaking project called Land4Lives, which is designed to enhance economic and climate resilience of food growers, especially women. They’ve planted kitchen gardens throughout the region which serve as educational hubs for learning about organic farming and healthy diets.

The fellows learned about food systems here from Dr. Ageng Herianto from the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), who presented the good news that hunger and malnutrition in the region is down, but that more innovation, sound policy, and stronger farms are needed to continue the trend. They also visited the World Food Program offices, where we discussed how WFP supports Indonesian government food programs, including a troubled school lunch program, aimed at eliminating hunger.

Finally, the executive director of an Indonesian development NGO (INFID) spoke to the group about food sovereignty for indigenous communities. Siti Nimah noted the ongoing conflict between the government, which seeks mass production, and indigenous peoples, who prefer to produce on a smaller scale for individual and community needs. He also discussed land rights, and the scourge of palm oil production, which ruins lands that would be better used for indigenous food production.

The fellows are great travel companions—interesting, fun people. And they’ve been consistently on time—something especially important to a neurotic such as myself.

We’re traveling onward to Thailand today for the final leg of the fellowship. Stay tuned for details.

The fellows' CNN-Indonesia visit included a newsroom tour