Head Of Badanas: Adjustments To The Grain HPP Will Be Implemented On January 15

Head of the National Food Agency (Bapanas) Arief Prasetyo Adi. (Photo: Doc. ANTARA)

Head of the National Food Agency (Bapanas) Arief Prasetyo Adi said that the implementation of the adjustment of the government's purchase price (HPP) was unhulled to provide flexibility to Perum Bulog in optimizing the absorption of farmers' production during the harvest season.

"The adjustment of this unhulled HPP will be implemented on January 15, so that Bulog can prepare to absorb farmers' crops during the main harvest period," said Arief as quoted by ANTARA, Wednesday, January 8.

He conveyed that the government's decision to adjust the HPP of unhulled rice for Perum Bulog from Rp6,000 per kilogram (kg) to Rp6,500 will be enforced starting January 15, 2025.

This is based on the decision of the Limited Coordination Meeting (Rakortas) of the Coordinating Ministry for Food, led by the Coordinating Minister for Food Affairs Zulkifli Hasan, Monday, January 6, 2025.

"Of course this is in accordance with the direction of the Coordinating Minister also based on the results of the Coordination Meeting led by President Prabowo Subianto some time ago," he said.

According to Arief, the HPP of Rp6,500 per kg of unhulled rice is a reasonable price at the farmer level by taking into account the structure of the cost of farming, as well as input from various elements, including from the farmer organization itself.

"So we don't just look at one side, that the interests upstream, our farmers must be taken into account and of course consider input from all stakeholders, so that they get a fair price for their production efforts," said Arief.

"On the other hand, we also have to look at downstream interests, that prices at the consumer level must also be reasonable," added Arief.

Furthermore, Arief said, based on data from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS), since the implementation of the HPP policy through Bapanas, which was the first time in March 2023, the Farmer's Exchange Rate Index for Food Plant Subsectors (NTPP) has continued to exceed 100 points. NTPP in March 2023 itself was at 103.83.

The highest NTPP index was recorded in 2024 with the achievement of 122.78 in December. The government is also consistent in keeping the NTPP index stable above 100 points and has never been lower than the March 2023 NTPP, which at that time was 103.83.

Previously, Coordinating Minister for Food Zulkifli Hasan (Zulhas) said, in addition to the HPP of unhulled rice which will be enforced on January 15, 2025, the Government Reference Price (HAP) of feed corn will also increase and be effective on February 1, 2025.

"No matter how much the production is, Bulog bought it for IDR 5,500 per kg. But of course it takes time. Because the corn harvest starts in February, it will be enforced as of February 1," said Zulhas.

"This is because if it is enforced now it will disrupt the existing stock. So this year's corn harvest starts at the harvest on February 1, 2025, not the existing corn stock," he added.

Coordinating Minister Zulhas said, to maintain the spirit of producing farmers, the availability of continuous feed is important.

Therefore, his party opens the option to procure feed wheat from outside.

He admitted that his party did not want to reduce the spirit of corn farmers' production.

So his party agreed to replace corn with wheat for feed, because it was considered at a low price.

"Well, we will coordinate this later. But please note, this is wheat for animal feed. And even if it is imported, we must pay attention to the condition of farmers and the availability of feed corn. So it must be decided in the coordination meeting," explained Zulhas.