Economics and Agribusiness in Indonesia
The Republic of Indonesia is located in South East Asia and one of the ten members of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) as well as a member of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC). Indonesia became an independent country in 1949 and, throughout the 20th century, it was a leading nation within the global non-aligned bloc. The country is composed of over 13.000 islands and has a total of 54.716 kilometers of coastline. Furthermore, today, Indonesia has a population of almost 261 million inhabitants, some 55% of which live in an urban setting. Likewise, the median age in Indonesia is of 30 years.
Economics and Agribusiness in Indonesia
Indonesia has an economy of approximately US$3 trillion (PPP) that is divided into 14% agriculture, 41% manufacturing, and 45% services. Similarly, it is estimated that the agricultural industry employs 32% of the national labor force, while manufacturing employs 21% and services employ another 47%. Meanwhile, the agriculture industry utilizes 31% of the national territory, while another 52% is forested. In terms of natural resources, Indonesia has petroleum, tin, natural gas, nickel, timber, bauxite, copper, fertile soils, coal, gold, and silver. Within manufacturing, the national industry is focused on fossil fuels processing, textiles, automotive production, electrical appliances, apparel, footwear, mining, cement, medical instruments, handicrafts, chemicals, plywood, rubber, processed food, and jewelry. Likewise, an important part of the national economy is devoted to the tourism industry. Simultaneously, the country’s agricultural industry has as main products palm oil, poultry, beef, forest products, shrimp, cocoa, coffee, medicinal herbs, fish, and spices.
In terms of trade, during 2016, Indonesia imported US$132 billion worth of goods and exported US$140 billion, resulting in a trade surplus of US$8 billion. Furthermore, Indonesia’s main export, representing 10% or US$10.4 billion of the country’s total in 2016, was palm oil. On the other hand, the country’s main import that same year, representing 7.5% or US$9.9 billion of all international purchases, was refined petroleum. Similarly, Indonesia’s main trading partners are China, Singapore, Japan, the United States, and other fellow ASEAN members.
Unfortunately, in Indonesia, over 20 million people suffer from undernourishment. In recent years, the average per capita protein intake of animal origin amongst the national population has been of 17 grams daily. Simultaneously, land distribution and output in Indonesia has evolved throughout the last half century. Back in 1961, permanent pastures and meadows in the country covered 12.600 hectares, while arable land covered 18.000 hectares and permanent crops accounted for 8.000 hectares. More recently, by 2014, permanent pastures and meadows represented 11.000 hectares, while arable land had increased to 23.500 hectares and permanent crops covered 22.500 hectares. Meanwhile, in 1961, Indonesia devoted about 9.3 million hectares of land to the production of cereals and produced almost 14.4 million metric tons annually. More recently, in 2014, the country devoted some 17.6 million hectares of land to cereals production and yielded approximately 90 million metric tons.