Ministry Of Agriculture Ensures National Rice Production Is Safe Until The End Of 2023

Illustration. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Agriculture ensures that national rice production is in a safe condition until the end of the year, with the addition of additional stock opportunities for production in the October-December 2022 period, which is estimated to reach 5 to 6 million tons of rice.

"In the October-December 2022 period, it is predicted that there will be up to 10.24 million tons of milled dry unhusked rice (GKG). If it turns into rice, around 5 to 6 million tons," said Director of Cereals at the Directorate General of Food Crops, Ministry of Agriculture, Moh Ismail Wahab in his statement, as quoted from Antara, Monday 21 November.

This estimation makes paddy production in the October-December 2022 period higher than the same period last year. The increase was 15.06 percent or the equivalent of 1.34 million tons of GKG. Total rice production in 2022 is projected to increase by 2.31 percent (1.25 million tons) from 2021 so that cumulatively it reaches 55.67 million tons.

If converted to rice, he continued, production in 2022 is estimated to reach 32 million tons. Meanwhile, the annual consumption requirement is 30.2 million tonnes.

This means, he said, this year it is estimated that the rice surplus will reach 1.8 million tons. When added to the previous year's surplus, the surplus reached 5.7 million tonnes of rice.

Ismail admitted that the price of rice is currently rising due to an increase in the price of the components that make up the price of rice. "If there is no increase in the price of fuel oil (BBM) and fertilizer prices, every year the price of grain in the current season (October-December) is always higher than the previous planting season," he said.

He explained that rice prices are getting higher because farmers use non-subsidized fertilizers which are much more expensive, coupled with rising fuel prices, so wage prices also increase by around IDR 20,000 to IDR 25,000 thousand per day.

The increase in rice prices was also triggered by negative sentiment towards the government's rice reserves (CBP) managed by the Public Logistics Agency which were considered thin.

"The market thinks that the government doesn't have the tools to provide positive sentiment in suppressing prices because there are not many stocks," said Ismail.

Previously, the Main Director of Perum Bulog Budi Waseso explained that currently, CBP stocks were running low. This happened because rice production was limited and the selling price was high.

Budi Waseso admits that it is difficult to buy rice or unhulled rice at the producer level due to limited supply at the mills and farmer levels. Bulog, said Budi, has gathered together rice mill business partners and has made an agreement to be able to absorb 500 thousand tons of rice by December 2022.

However, he said, until November 16, 2022, Bulog could only absorb 92 thousand tons because there was no stock of rice at the rice mill level. As a result, only 651 thousand tons of CBP are currently in Bulog warehouses, far from the government's target of 1.2 million tons.

Based on the results of a survey on national rice reserves by the Central Bureau of Statistics, the Ministry of Agriculture, and the National Food Agency, rice stocks as of the end of June 2022 reached 9.71 million tonnes. As much as 67.94 percent are in households, Bulog 11.40 percent, traders 10.67 percent, mills 7.15 percent, and hospitality (hotels, restaurants, and catering) and industry 2.84 percent.

Ismail ensured that national rice production until the end of December 2022 would be sufficient. This is based on BPS's Area Sampling Framework (KSA) data which has been evaluated by a team of statistical experts. Ismail even said that rice stocks in West Java had increased sharply, causing rice suppliers from Central Java to be refused entry to the West Java market, especially to Karawang Regency.