Badanas Asks Bulog To Absorb Farmers' Grain In Karawang

JAKARTA - Head of the National Food Agency Arief Prasetyo Adi asked Perum Bulog to strengthen the absorption of grain from farmers in line with the ongoing harvest season, including in Karawang, West Java, to fill the availability of domestic supplies.

"During the main harvest period like this, Bulog should continue to strengthen its role as an offtaker for farmers' crops. We keep prices at the farmer level so that they don't fall. There is no reason Bulog is not absorbed because we have a dryer, dry it and then store it in the form of GKG (Gry Giling Grant)," said Arief on the sidelines of reviewing the Modern Rice Milling Plant (MRMP) Bulog in Karawang, in a statement in Jakarta, quoted from Antara, Monday, April 29.

He conveyed that to optimize the absorption, the government has issued a government purchasing price flexibility (HPP) policy that allows Bulog to absorb grain/rice and maintain prices at the farmer level.

This flexibility policy from early April to 30 June 2024 is aimed at encouraging an increase in Bulog absorption during the main harvest period.

The HPP flexibility policy for grain and rice applied to Perum Bulog is Harvested Dry Grain (GKP) at the farmer level of Rp. 6,000 per kg. Furthermore, Giling Dry Grain (GKG) in Perum Bulog warehouse is Rp. 7,400 per kg.

Meanwhile, the HPP of rice in Perum Bulog's warehouse with a minimum level of 95 percent, water levels 14 percent, broken grains a maximum of 20 percent, and menir pills a maximum of 2 percent Rp. 11,000 per kg. This is valid until the end of June.

"We carry out the President's order so that the Government Food Reserve (CPP) stock continues to be strengthened, especially from domestic production. For this reason, the Silo continues to be filled with GKG stocks, both those that are dried by Bulog itself and those that are dried by farmers. Also prioritize the digitalization aspect in monitoring stock conditions in the form of control rooms that are able to know in real time the existing stock conditions," he said.

MRMP Bulog di Karawang, lanjut Arief, dilengkapi dengan enam unit dryer atau mesin berkapasitas 120 ton per hari dengan kemampuan operasional 18 jam dan Rice Milling Unit (RMU) berkapasitas 6 ton per jam. Di samping itu, terdapat pula tiga unit silo dengan total kapasitas penyimpanan GKG mencapai 6.000 ton.

Targeted until the end of May, the total GKP absorbed by MRMP Karawang was 5,000 tons. The total absorption of GKP until April 27 has reached 2,481 tons. A milling process of 274 tons has been carried out. Meanwhile, the total stored GKG stock is 1,887 tons.