Fill In Rice Reserves Through Imports, Food Agency: We Want To Keep Bulog Rice Stocks

Illustration (Photo: Doc. Antara)

Head of the National Food Agency Arief Prasetyo Adi said, as an effort to secure rice reserves, the government will prepare 200,000 tons of commercial rice abroad which can be brought to Indonesia at any time.

"This food supply must be available and not issued freely, only used for several government activities," he said in an official statement, Wednesday, December 7.

Arief said that the fulfillment of these rice reserves did not necessarily show that national rice production was insufficient.

He appreciated the national rice production this year, which is a surplus of around 1.7 million tons based on the KSA of the Central Statistics Agency (BPS).

National rice production from January to December 2022 is projected at 31.90 million tons.

Meanwhile, the national rice demand in 2022 is around 30.2 million tons, so it is projected to experience a rice surplus of around 1.7 million tons.

According to Arief, based on this data, Indonesia in the government period of President Jokowi has succeeded in achieving self-sufficiency in rice, considering that based on FAO provisions in 1999, a country is said to be self-sufficient if its production reaches 90 percent of the national need.

"The national rice production is in good condition, what we want to maintain is the rice stock in Bulog. Meanwhile, currently the availability of Bulog rice stocks is 503,000 tons, consisting of 196 thousand tons or 39 percent of which are commercial stocks and 306,000 tons or 61 percent are CBP stocks," he said.

Arief explained that currently Bulog is competing to get domestic rice, it will raise prices up. Bulog's time to intervene in prices up to the Grand Panen.

To ensure the accuracy and readiness of national rice stock data and in order to fulfill one national food data, December 31, 2022, a survey will be conducted by the National Food Agency, BPS, Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Trade to find out field conditions regarding the amount of rice stock in Indonesia.