Ahead of Ramadan, the DPR asks the government to prepare a stock map and food price risk

Illustration of a traditional market (ANTARA)

JAKARTA - Member of Commission IV of the Indonesian House of Representatives, Rina Saadah, asked the government to immediately prepare a stock map and a map of food price risks per region ahead of the holy month of Ramadan. He emphasized that the government must focus on food deficit areas as well as lagging, leading, and outermost (3T) areas so that annual price fluctuations do not recur.

"We hope that mapping the food needs and the stability of affordable food prices will encourage people to be more comfortable in carrying out the Ramadan fasting. Moreover, at this time our food stocks, especially rice, are relatively safe," Rina Saadah told reporters, Friday, February 5.

The member of the commission who deals with agriculture reminded that the measure of the government's success in securing food is not merely the surplus figure on the national balance sheet, but the ability of the lower economic community to access food at affordable prices.

"Strong stock data is certainly important, but the main indicator of a country's success is whether workers, small farmers, fishermen, and urban poor can actually buy food at reasonable prices," he explained.

The PKB legislator from the West Java District also highlighted the anomalies that often occur every year, where the government claims that the stock is safe but prices in traditional markets continue to soar. Rina assessed that the main problem lies in the distribution management and the effectiveness of supervision in the field, not solely on the amount of production.

"The Ministry and food agencies seem to be working as hard as 'Avengers', but in fact people in the field are still burdened by high prices. People don't need long narratives about stocks, what they need is the presence of the state in a tangible way through controlled prices," he said.

Rina also reminded that the price stabilization policy should still pay attention to the welfare of producers. He asked for the absorption of farmers' rice to remain optimal at a price that protects, while instruments such as the Food Supply and Price Stabilization (SPHP) and market operations must be intensified to suppress prices at the consumer level.

He also urged coordination of one command between the Ministry of Agriculture, the National Food Agency (Bapanas), Bulog, ID Food, and the Food Task Force. Bapanas was specifically asked to activate an early warning system for prices that could trigger automatic intervention if prices exceeded certain thresholds.

"Don't let the data look neat on paper, but in the field people are still buying food far above the reference price. Execution in the field is the biggest challenge this year," concluded Rina.