How Indonesia's National Food Agency prevents food waste in the month of Ramadan

National Food Agency (Bapanas), the Indonesian government agency tasked with overseeing food availability in the country, has launched a campaign to reduce food waste during Ramadan and support national food security.

"During Ramadan, we are often hungry and tempted to buy Ramadan specialities, which in turn leads us to buy more than we need," says Bapanas’ Director for Food Awareness, Nita Yulianis, to GovInsider.    

This campaign, says Nita, is expected to change people's behaviour to make them wiser in buying food, ultimately reducing waste caused by excessive consumption. 

In a country with a large Muslim population like Indonesia, food consumption tends to spike during Ramadan due to the many activities that are typical of this month, such as breaking the fast with family and colleagues, feasts, and sending food gifts. However, not all that food is consumed and some of it ends up in the bin.

Based on data from the Indonesian Ministry of Environment and Forestry (KLHK), food waste generated during Ramadan increases by 10-20 per cent compared to other months.

According to Nita, apart from impacting the environment, food waste also has the potential to affect national food security. She cites the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) report in 2011 that one-third of the food produced is wasted.  

"Assuming Indonesia's annual rice demand is around 30 million tonnes, there will be around 10 million tonnes of rice wasted. We can imagine how much economic loss this would cause."  

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Facilitating food redistribution 

Since 2022, Bapanas has been mandated by the President to handle food security, and one of the strategies was to ensure the reduction of food wastage, especially during Ramadan.

In addition to encouraging wise food consumption, Bapanas also educates the public to raise their awareness about the importance of managing food waste and food redistribution.   

According to Nita, leftover food should not always be thrown away but instead can be donated to people in need as long as the food is still suitable for consumption. 

"The government can be a facilitator to connect food donors with beneficiaries. This is our breakthrough, providing access to people in need to utilise the excess food potential," she says.   

The food redistribution has been conducted by Bapanas in collaboration with restaurants, hotels, and community-based food banks across Indonesia. During 2024, this initiative has saved approximately 1,300 tonnes of food and distributed to people in need. 

However, many people are still unaware of the food donation programme. Bapanas, according to Nita, will continue to disseminate the details of the programme to increase community involvement and engage more people to participate in this programme.    

Bapanas is also collaborating with academics, businesses, communities, local governments and the media to make this campaign a success

Supporting food waste processing 

Bapanas channels excess food to those in need before it goes to the landfill. When it reaches the landfill, Bapanas works with the Ministry of Environment and Forestry and communities on food waste processing.

"We are connected in our efforts to reduce food waste. The point is that we have to be wiser in buying and consuming food", she says.  

Waste4Change, a company that provides end-to-end waste management solutions, also emphasises the importance of disseminating information to the public not to waste the food they consume. 

"Waste4Change always educates the public, especially our clients, to finish their food and reduce organic waste," says Waste4Change's External Government Partnership, Pandu Priambodo, in separate interview with GovInsider. 

According to Pandu, Waste4Change collaborates with the National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas) to educate the public about the importance of reducing organic waste.

One of them is releasing a joint study on food loss and waste (FLW) in 2021 that reveals the economic impact of FLW that reaches IDR213-551 trillion (S$17.2-44.5 billion) per year, equals to four to five per cent of Indonesia’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

"This study is being used as basis for policy formulation related to the value chain, supply chain, and public consumption patterns," he says.