Jokowi Forms Food Agency, Faisal Basri: So The Trade Minister Won't Fight Again With The Minister Of Agriculture

JAKARTA - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) officially formed the National Food Agency (BPN). Later the food agency will take care of nine foodstuffs.

The establishment of this agency is covered by Presidential Regulation Number 66 of 2021. Senior economist Faisal Basri conveyed his understanding of the formation of the food agency.

Faisal Basri said that the establishment of the food agency is also in line with the mandate of the Law on food which has been neglected since 2012. He said that the agency could become a liaison between several ministries and institutions that have been overlapping for food affairs.

"So what is needed is a super holding so that there are no more fights between the Minister of Agriculture and the Minister of Trade, between the Head of Bulog and the Minister of Trade. There is no longer any need, all work for the public welfare of farmers and consumers", he said in a virtual discussion, Thursday, August 26.

So far, said Faisal, some of the above ministries and institutions often throw authority at each other to the point of blaming each other. Especially when it comes to importing issues, each also often shows different data.

Furthermore, Faisal hopes that this agency will later become a data integration center, covering all interests from upstream to downstream, to food distribution. Not only that, but it also includes a center for controlling prices, exports, and imports, as well as recording commodities that should be developed in the context of food self-sufficiency.

Faisal assessed that the presence of BPN should also be able to eliminate the practice of collusion that characterizes the process of importing food in the country. Even so, Faisal admitted that he was worried that the BPN that had been officially formed by Jokowi was only a replica of the Food Security Agency under the Ministry of Agriculture.

Moreover, said Faisal, there was no strengthening of any functions, including the Bulog Public Company, in the formation of BPN. In addition, referring to its function, BPN only focuses on managing nine basic commodities. Whereas commodities in Indonesia consist of various types.

"So maybe the National Food Agency is just a replica of the food security agency that is under the current Ministry of Agriculture. So there is no food to strengthen the Bulog, there is no food agency that we aspire to", he said.