Overcoming Price Surges, Acting Minister Of Agriculture Asks Local Governments, Ministry Of Trade And ID FOOD To Pay Attention To These 3 Commodities

Acting (Plt) Minister of Agriculture Arief Prasetyo Adi. (Photo: Screenshot/YouTube National Food Agency)

JAKARTA - Acting Minister of Agriculture Arief Prasetyo Adi submitted a special request to local governments (Pemda), trade ministries (Kemendag), and BUMN food holdings.

The request is related to a number of commodity prices that continue to increase in the country.

The request was submitted at the commemoration of World Food Day 2023 at the Ministry of Agriculture (Kementan) building, Jakarta, which was monitored online, on Monday, October 16.

Also present were Minister of Home Affairs (Mendagri) Tito Karnavian, Deputy Minister of Agriculture (Wamentan) Harvick Hasnul Qolbi, and Plt. Head of BPS Amalia Adininggar Widyasanti.

Arief said, as much as 640,000 tons of rice had to be divided into three months for 21.3 million beneficiary families (KPM).

"You can't play games, the rice for the Stabilization of Supply and Food Prices (SPHP) according to the duties of the president must be distributed throughout Indonesia," said Arief.

He asked all regional leaders who still do not have rice, both in traditional markets and modern markets, to immediately contact Bulog.

"Please contact the nearest Bulog, we comb everything, must have SPHP rice and sell it according to the highest retail price (HET) as has been conveyed," he said.

President Joko Widodo (Jokowi), said Arief, also gave orders to fulfill/flood Cipinang Rice Main Market.

"The order from the president is to fulfill/flood the Cipinang Rice Main Market. This market has been disbursed around 8-9,000 tons, escorted by the food task force, not a single item (rice) should be misused. I have asked my friends from the food task force, of course, to guard this up to consumers," he said.

Apart from rice, Arief said, President Jokowi also gave orders regarding sugar. It is known, currently the realization of Indonesian sugar imports has only reached 26 percent.

"The president's order for sugar, the director-general of the Ministry of Trade, the realization of our imports is only 26 percent, so as soon as possible our brothers and sisters who hold the import quota must realize their imports, including SOEs in the food sector, RNI, and PTPN, private sector as well," he said.

In addition to rice and sugar, Arief asked the Food SOE Holding or ID Food to immediately address the problem of cayenne pepper.

"For cayenne pepper, Mr. Frans from ID Food, please coordinate production center areas with high surplus so that they can be immediately distributed,000, to areas with minus or deficits, facilitating dist.000si costs can be from Badanas or from the local government," he said.

Meanwhile, Acting Head of BPS Amalia Adininggar Widyasanti said, there are three food commodities that need attention in the second week of October 2023, namely granulated sugar, rice, and cayenne pepper.

"Sand sugar and rice continue to increase. In the increasing trend, the average price of rice between regions also experiences higher disparities, which is the highest in Papua, then sugar is also in the increasing trend, there are 338 urban districts experiencing an increase in sugar," he explained.

"So, maybe this week we will convey information that there are three commodities that need attention, namely granulated sugar, rice and cayenne pepper," he concluded.