New Bulog Absorbs 329,000 Tons Of Rice Farmers, President Director: Short Harvest

President Director of Perum Bulog Bayu Krisnamurthi. (Photo: Mery Handayani/VOI)

JAKARTA - President Director of Perum Bulog Bayu Krisnamurthi revealed that his party had only managed to absorb as much as 329,000 tons of domestic farmers' rice.

"Currently, Bulog has procured around 633,000 tons of domestic land equivalent to grain, or the equivalent of 329,000 tons of rice," he said at the Bulog Office, Jakarta, Thursday, April 25.

Bayu revealed that the challenge experienced by Bulog in absorbing farmers' rice from within the country was a short harvest season.

Thus, Bulog must compete with mills to absorb the harvest.

From the conditions in the field, there are two big obstacles faced. The first is a short harvest period. With a large amount but a short time. So that all fighting, fighting to enter Bulog and rice milling, "he said.

Bayu also said that this short harvest time causes problems in the dryer. Where all parties are scrambling to use a dryer considering the weather is unstable.

"Because at the same time the sun is still there and it's gone like this afternoon. So if you want to dry it with a dry floor, it depends on the sun, even though the sun is cloudy, sometimes it rains," he explained.

As a result, said Bayu, the long queue occurred because all farmers were trying to deposit rice into Bulog's drying machine.

"So it's full, the queue is long," he said.

The second problem, continued Bayu, relates to the impact of the situation, namely the availability of fertilizers. He said, the composition of fertilizers that make the quality of grain is not optimal.

"So a lot of damage, a lot of yellow. This does not go to the table of the quality requirements that have been set. But for water levels we are forced to enforce discipline, (while) for others we are trying to find a way or solution," he said.

Bayu said that until now, Bulog has quite a lot of rice stocks. The total rice stock controlled by Bulog ranges from 1.45 million tons.

This rather large number occurs because the food aid program is not yet running, is still waiting for data updates. Hopefully, this week it will be completed soon, and later we will distribute the food aid in the remaining months from May to June, for three months the amount," he said.