Islamic Agricultural Economics and Islamic Food Economics

Before going further into "Islamic food economics", it's good to start a little with Islamic Agricultural Economics. Food here is positioned as part of agriculture, although then there is a tendency to shift it into the food and medicine group. This can be seen, for example, in the Job Creation Bill (Omnibus Law) which was discussed at the beginning of 2019.

We have heard of Islamic Economics for a long time, but not yet about "Islamic Agricultural Economics". On Google there are no results for "Islamic Agricultural Economy".

Islamic agricultural logic is not like ordinary economic logic. One onion bulb is planted, the result is 10 onion bulbs. A pair of sheep is kept, in some years there could be 10 of them. This is clearly intervention and infinite blessings from the Giver of Life. How many thousands of pots of vegetables can be produced from one hectare of onion plants, for example? How many mouths and stomachs enjoyed it. It really doesn't count. It's impossible to calculate the deliciousness of the taste of vegetables with the right aroma of fried onions.

So, don't look at the harvest from the money alone. One onion becoming ten onions could be considered a loss if, for example, the price of onions on the market plummets. But, if you look at the benefits and pleasures they experience, no farmer actually suffers a loss. So, farming is actually spreading seeds, sowing virtue, carrying out charity, reaping rewards. Not just investing money for money.

Islamic Agricultural Economics is not just

plant money harvest money...

If farming is understood as investing money for money, then we neglect to take into account the damage done. Using pesticides carelessly to kill worms that fertilize plants is not counted as a loss. Inorganic fertilizers make the soil hard, destroying soil biology. Conventional farming analysis does not include this damage. The results also only look at the yield, not the product.

Islamic agriculture does not destroy nature. Islamic agriculture protects nature. Islam rahmatan lil alamin, Islamic farming brings life, not destruction.

Every day people talk about food, there are lots of discussions about the economy, and religious study sessions are held every morning and evening. However, it seems that no one has tried to put it together in one breath: "Islamic-food-economy". Many people mention food when discussing agriculture. However, no one has dared to say that what they are discussing is classified as food economy.

Meanwhile in the real world, even though various approaches have been implemented, starting from the concept of food security, food sovereignty (farmers' sovereignty over food), self-sufficiency, etc.; but the food problem is not resolved. The UN reports that more than 800 million people in the world suffer from hunger, and 120 million of them experience acute hunger. When compared with the world's population of 7.7 billion people, the number of hungry people is more than 10 percent. Ironically, 1.3 trillion tons of food is wasted in the world every year, or the same as 1/3 of total world food production. Who wastes the most food (food waste and food loss)? In order from the most severe, they are Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, the US and the United Arab Emirates. Subhanallah.

This means, ladies and gentlemen, that the agricultural economics that we have applied is apparently unable to solve the world food problem. There are many errors in this science, for example the attitude that despise food as an industrial product. Just “production”; not a gift from God that should be highly valued. By respecting the food, we also respect those who produce it. This means that it is time for us to look at God's guidance in managing agriculture and food.

Agricultural economics is derived from economics, by changing the object to agricultural products. Is it adequate to build knowledge with a paradigm and approach like this and reduce it to Food Economics? On the other hand, agricultural economics talks about primary goods, but is derived from science built from secondary and tertiary objects?

It seems that staple foods must leave the market mechanism. There are at least four reasons. One, humans have basic instincts and morals to help the lives of others. People will die if they don't eat. So, in any tribe, in any religion, in villages and cities, in traditional communities; people love to share food and groceries. Even in this modern world, people still like to share food. There are parties in big cities with lots of food, free of charge. We also enjoy treating friends and guests.

Traditional societies never sell food to each other. In gathering and hunting societies, food is usually collected in one place and then consumed together. They created a community food barn. This habit continues to be maintained by today's society. We hold social gatherings, celebrations and parties as a mechanism for sharing food.

Two, food is always produced from the land, directly or indirectly. Well, because in fact a piece of land is never truly owned by a human being, where we only have the right to work on it; then something that is born from something that does not belong to him is certainly not his in full. There is a social element there. There is a social element to every harvest.

Three, religion also teaches us not to use staple foods as economic goods using market mechanisms. There are so many suggestions and teachings for entertaining guests, hadiths about making more vegetables so you can share them, and so on.

Four, the added value that is extracted from the land is many times the effort that a human being has put in. A seed is thrown to the ground, then five years later it bears fruit. Where is the thrower's human effort in it? This means that this is almost entirely a blessing from the land, from nature, yes from Allah. "And He has spread out the earth for (His) creatures, in which there are fruits and date palm trees with honey petals" (Ar-rahman: 10-11).

 

*****