IMPORTS THREATEN RI'S FOOD SELF-RELIANCE : MEGAWATI

Jakarta, June 18 (ANTARA) - Presidential candidate Megawati Soekarnoputri said a flood of imported foods in domestic markets was threatening the country's food self-reliance.

"I am not saying that we are opposed to imported foods but we need to develop national foods which are not inferior if processed properly," she told about 1,000 women in a campaign dialog themed "the barometer of Indonesia's democratic exercise" here on Wednesday.

She said food self-reliance was not only a matter of food resilience but also of how to create food sovereignty.

"A nation that has food sovereignty is the one capable of processing natural resources to meet its own food needs," she said.

Indonesia was endowed with extraordinary potential sources of food which could be processed into a variety of staple foods, she said.

"Our country has extraordinary potential sources of foodstuffs that must be taken optimum advantage of to meet domestic consumers' needs," she said.