Keep The Stabilization Of Rice Prices, The Food Agency Encourages Bulog Rice To Retail Sales

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

Head of the National Food Agency Arief Prasetyo Adi pushed Bulog rice to retail sales.

The goal is that the distribution of medium rice in the context of Stability of Rice Supply and Food Prices (SPHP) can be expanded and improved.

According to Arief, this step was taken to improve the implementation of the SPHP in accordance with the direction of the President of the Republic of Indonesia Joko Widodo (Jokowi) in order to stabilize rice prices at the consumer level.

"The expansion and increase in the distribution of SPHP through the retail market is in line with the President's direction so that we are aware of the increase in rice prices by taking massive stabilization steps," he said in an official statement, Sunday, January 29.

Arief hopes that the downstreaming of SPHP rice to the retail market can encourage the affordability of Bulog medium rice in the community.

Through this step, medium rice disbursed in the Bulog SPHP program can not only be obtained at Bulog Regional Offices or traditional markets, but also in stalls around residential areas, Bulog's Food House (RPK) shops, and modern retailers both online and offline.

"We expand its distribution by targeting and increasing the number of retail stores around the community. This is to ensure public affordability and accessibility to Bulog rice products that we sell at affordable prices," he explained.

According to Arief, the effort to encourage Bulog rice to sell retail was in accordance with the Decree of the Head of the National Food Agency No. 01/KS.02.02/K/1/2023 concerning Instructions for Implementing SPHP.

The julak stated that Bulog can carry out SPHP through market operations directly at the retail level or through distributors and partners in traditional or modern markets as well as places that are easily accessible to others.

"The point is, the most important thing is to open affordability and selling prices up to the consumer level must be in accordance with the retail price that has been set. In addition, as a guarantee of quality, the rice sold must include price information, quality class, and clean weight," he explained.

Arief added, based on the data collected, many regions have expanded distribution through local shops and retail outlets, such as in the Provinces of South Sulawesi, Bengkulu, Central Sulawesi, Papua, West Papua, Riau Islands, West Java, DKI Jakarta, North Maluku, Central Kalimantan, Southeast Sulawesi, Riau, Yogyakarta, and Jambi.

The implementation of this SPHP, he said, will continue to be carried out every day more massively throughout Indonesia.

As of January 28, Bulog has realized the distribution of 161,000 tons of SPHP, this number has increased by 143 percent compared to rice distribution for stock stabilization and prices in January 2022 which was recorded at 66,000 tons.

Bulog di seluruh daerah kami minta melakukan operasi pasar beras SPHP ini setiap hari sampai dengan panen raya di Februati-Maret ini. Sebagai komoditas pokok penting yang di consuming mayoritas warga, stabilitas stok dan harga beras adalah prioritas, ujarnya.

For your information, Bulog itself received an assignment from NFA to absorb 2.4 million tons in 2023.

Meanwhile, it is intended to stabilize as much as 1.2 million tons. So it is targeted that by the end of the year Bulog's stock will be around 1 million tons.

The importance of the SPHP to maintain the stabilization of rice prices, he added, is also aimed at controlling inflation.

Based on data from the Indonesia Inflation Level in December 2022 released by the Central Statistics Agency (BPS), it is stated that rice is one of the commodities that can affect inflation rates.

In that period, rice had a 0.07 percent stake in national inflation. Indonesia's inflation rate in December 2022 was at 5.51 percent year on year.