Minister Of Agriculture Ensures Commodities Of Sugar And Onions Are Maintained During Ramadan

JAKARTA - Minister of Agriculture Syahrul Yasin Limpo stated that the food balance of 11 basic commodities is still stable to support the needs of the community in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Not only stable, the availability of garlic, beef and sugar during Ramadan.

"All (11 basic food commodities) are safe and under control. The Ministry of Agriculture is very confident that our food stock, especially rice is available, is quite safe," in a video conference with BNPB on 'Food Availability and Security during Ramadan', Sunday, April 26. .

According to Syahrul, his party has collaborated with the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) to ensure that the food balance is in a stable condition. In fact, this balance sheet can also be used as a reference by all parties.

However, Syahrul revealed that his party had encountered several challenges in increasing the availability of beef, buffalo meat and sugar. This is because the countries supplying these commodities have imposed lockdowns or lockdown protocols that have choked up the flow of goods.

"Beef is a bit late. Because some of our importing countries are currently experiencing lockdowns or closing their ports. So it is too late for delivery," he said.

Meanwhile, Syahrul said, regarding granulated sugar which was scarce in the market, his party noted that this commodity began to enter the domestic market starting 2-3 weeks ago.

"The sugar is taken from raw sugar, converted into white sugar or granulated sugar and approximately 250 thousand tons are already available," he explained.

Syahrul said, for the problem of garlic, the problem is that garlic is still imported. Even so, to meet the needs during Ramadan, the government has processed imports of these commodities.

"But in the last week before we fasted or the last 2-3 weeks, garlic has entered the process," he explained.

Previously, the Ministry of Trade had carried out a temporary relaxation of imports for garlic and onions. The Director General of Foreign Trade, Indrasari Wisnu Wardhana, noted that imports of garlic that have entered the country without an Import Approval (PI) reached 28 thousand tons.

According to Wisnu, the amount of garlic that entered reached 48 thousand tons. Of that amount, 20 thousand tons use PI, while 28 thousand tons enter without PI. He also said that the policy would not harm local farmers. This is because the ease of importation will only last until May 31.