Access To Food And The Important Role Of Farmers In The Middle Of The COVID-19 Pandemic

JAKARTA - The provision of basic necessities in the country is a challenge that needs to be considered in the midst of the current corona virus or COVID-19 pandemic. The Institute for Development of Economics and Finance (INDEF) said that although the government ensures that food stocks are guaranteed until August, this can be hampered by various challenges during the pandemic.

INDEF Executive Director Tauhid Ahmad said the poverty level in the midst of the COVID-19 outbreak has the potential to increase. Currently there are 4.8 million poor people in Indonesia, they are vulnerable to access to food and have not yet become targets of aid distribution.

The Indonesian government is advised to increase the allocation of social assistance in the form of the Nine Basic Materials (Sembako) needs for them. Tauhid said, in the basic food social assistance scheme, the government has budgeted Rp.43.6 trillion which will be distributed to 20 million beneficiary families (KPM).

However, according to Tauhid, based on data from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) as of March 2019, there were around 24.8 million families who belonged to the near poor and vulnerable to poverty.

"This means that there are 4.8 million KPM who are prone to falling into the poor because social assistance for basic needs has not been allocated yet," he said, in a written statement received by VOI, dj Jakarta, Thursday, April 9.

This vulnerability, said Tauhid, was triggered by a number of factors. Starting from the potential for increased food prices to reduced income due to layoffs (layoffs) that have been rife during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Tauhid also highlighted the value of basic food assistance amounting to IDR 200,000 per month. According to him, the amount of assistance was not sufficient. This is because spending on food for this group reaches Rp. 300,000 to Rp. 400,000 per month.

Related to this basic food aid policy, said Tauhid, it also depends on local government policies and budget availability. For example, DKI Jakarta provides additional assistance, while other regions may not be able to, because the condition of their budget capacity may differ. Therefore, the government should consider expanding the target of basic food assistance for these vulnerable groups.

Tauhid said, the nominal value of basic food assistance should be increased in the range of at least 25 to 30 percent. Therefore, his party encourages the use of village funds for food assistance in rural areas, at least an allocation of 20 to 25 percent during the COVID-19 pandemic.

On the other hand, Tauhid said, access for KPM is also expected to be increased following the number of e-warongs that are not yet ideal with the number of KPM being added.

"Now the number of e-warongs is around 98,311 units. With a target of 20 million KPM, there should be at least 128,983 e-warongs. Equity is needed, especially in areas that are difficult to access," he said.

Important Role of Farmers

Indef's Senior Economist, Bustanul Arifin explained that in the midst of this COVID-19, farmers certainly played an important role. According to him, all the availability of foodstuffs will not be sufficient if there are no farmers.

Bustanul also explained that currently the Farmer Exchange Rate (NTP) in all sectors in March 2020 decreased to 1.22 percent compared to February 2020. The decrease was also due to the cost of inputting rice, corn, soybean and so on, which were indeed expensive. .

According to Bustanul, so that food supplies are also sufficient and in order to improve the welfare of farmers in Indonesia in the atmosphere of the COVID-19 pandemic, the government needs to pay attention to the rice reserves provided.

"The use of village funds for labor-intensive activities in rural areas remains with the COVID-19 security and safety protocol. Distribution of special incentives for horticultural farmers and high value added or export mainstay products three times," he said.

Even though March, the rice is still in the process of harvesting, Bustanul hopes, a glorious harvest can occur in April 2020. Currently, the rice reserves in Bulog are 1.4 million tons, then the rice reserves in the Cipinang Rice Main Market (PIBC) are around 2. , 8 million tons. So that the total rice stock is 4.2 million tons.

"Bulog still needs to buy grain from farmers, carry out a domestic rice scheme, with price incentives. The rice balance is estimated to have a surplus in April of around 0.9 million tons," he explained.