Coordinating Minister For SMEs Teten Masduki Calls The Main Cause Of Infection In Indonesia Due To Lack Of Food Supply Needed By The Community

Minister of Cooperatives and SMEs Teten Masduki. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - Minister of Cooperatives and Small and Medium Enterprises (MenkopUKM) Teten Masduki said the main cause of inflation in Indonesia was due to the lack of availability or supply of basic necessities, especially food needed by the community.

"Still from the supply aspect, indeed our agricultural sources still rely on simple technology, rely on nature, and secondly, production costs are not cheap," said Teten when he was a resource person at the High Level Event (HLE) of the National Food Inflation Control Movement (GNPIP) East Java 2023 in Surabaya, quoted from Antara, Friday, March 17.

Teten emphasized that controlling inflation in Indonesia requires synergy between the central government and local governments.

Teten said that at this low cost, President Joko Widodo had ordered the Ministry of Cooperatives and SMEs, to consolidate small individual farmers in the regions, on the economic scale of cooperatives. Where cooperatives become aggregators or collectors as well as consolidators of farmers.

"Then it is connected to the market, and connected to financing. It will be supported by a financing system, so that there is certainty of prices, certainty of the market, to these farmers," he said.

Meanwhile, East Java Governor Khofifah Indar Parawansa said that his party had accurate moves in efforts to control food inflation, including massively carrying out market operations in various regions, as well as preparing showcases.

"So that if there is a need for rice, especially, there is no need to move it from the nearest Bulog, for example where the warehouse is, where is the warehouse, but rice showcases, cooking oil, are prepared in several markets where the needs are quite significant," he said.

Meanwhile, the High Level Event (HLE) of the East Java National Food Inflation Control (GNPIP) in 2023 raised the theme of Increasing Food Availability through Innovation of Agricultural and Digitalization Technology organized by Bank Indonesia at the Ballroom Grand City Surabaya.