PKS Party Faction House Of Representatives Member: Why Import 1 Million Tons Of Rice If What We Have Is Enough?

JAKARTA - Member of Commission IV House of Representatives (DPR) from the PKS Party faction, Johan Rosihan, reminded that rice imports should not be carried out when the commodity stock is sufficient and its availability can be met from domestic production.

Johan asked the government to cancel the plan to import one million tons of rice considering that the national rice stock availability data is sufficient to meet rice needs, including for the benefit of social assistance and government rice reserves (CBP).

"In addition, based on the projection from Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS) that our rice production will increase compared to the previous year, which is an increase of around 26.84 percent, even the increase in production from January to April 2021 has reached 26.88 percent from the same period last year, which currently reached 25.37 million tons of unhulled rice", he said, quoted from Antara, Tuesday, March 9.

He detailed the prognosis for the availability of rice in 2021, namely the stock at the end of December 2020 amounting to 6.749.305 tons, then the estimated domestic production in 2021 by the Ministry of Agriculture is 8.263.879 tons.

"So, the prognosis for the total national rice availability in 2021 will reach 15.013.183 tons. Meanwhile, the estimated demand for rice in 2021 is around 7.480.042 tons, so based on the Ministry of Agriculture's prognosis, our rice stock is sufficient and does not need imports", he explained.

Johan added that if the government argues that it is in order to maintain the government's rice reserve stock, then it is also inaccurate because the CBP data as of January 2021 in Bulog has rice stocks of 977.000 tons and in February 2021, Logistics Agency (Bulog) absorbs rice from local farmers of 35.000 tons.

Thus, he continued, this amount has met the CBP stock standard of at least one million tons, even the national rice stock balance currently reaches around 7.5 million tons of rice.

The government, according to him, should focus on improving the management of government rice stocks through a procurement scheme that is equipped with attractive incentives, so that farmers or mills want to sell their unhulled rice or rice to Logistics Agency (Bulog).

"This is important to do so that we can fully absorb the products of our farmers", he said.

Moreover, he reminded that so far Logistics Agency (Bulog) has often experienced difficulties in procuring rice from within the country.

He is of the opinion that the government can use the FAO standard reference in making policies related to national rice stocks and rice stocks controlled by the government so that it is not reckless to plan rice imports.

According to FAO, he added, ideally the rice stock in a country is around 17-18 percent of the total rice consumption needs, while the current stock figure that we have is already above the average recommended by the FAO.

The government plans to import one million tons of rice in early 2021. This amount is allocated for CBP supply of 500 thousand tons and Perum Bulog needs 500 thousand tons by taking into account the absorption of national rice production.