Agriculture Expert: Injecting IDR 16.6 Trillion From The Government To Bulog Will Increase Farmers' Income

Illustration. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - Agricultural expert at Jenderal Sudirman University (Unsoed) Purwokerto Prof. Totok Agung Dwi Haryanto assessed that the government's injection of funds of Rp. 16.6 trillion to Perum Bulog to absorb 3 million tons of rice in the February-April 2025 period would increase farmers' income.

"It's good that Bulog can function as an institution that absorbs grain and rice from farmers. So there is a guarantee that there are farmers' crops that accommodate and this (injection of funds) is happy for farmers," said Totok Agung Dwi Haryanto in Purwokerto, Banyumas Regency, Central Java, quoted by Antara, Monday, February 3.

However, he said one thing that needs to be considered is how the purchase price of grain and rice provided by Bulog can provide benefits for farmers who harvest.

He admitted that currently there has been an increase in the price of government purchases (HPP) which is a reference for Bulog to buy unhulled rice and rice harvested by farmers, which is Rp. 6,500 per kilogram for dry unhulled rice at the farmer level.

The increase in HPP was stated in the Decree of the Head of the National Food Agency (Bapanas) Number 2 of 2025 concerning Changes in Government Purchase Prices and Rice Price Ratifications, although in the end the regulation on the tariff of unhulled rice was revoked based on the Decree of the Head of the National Food Agency Number 14 of 2025 concerning Amendments to the Decree of the Head of the National Food Agency Number 2 of 2025 concerning Amendments to the Purchase Price of the Government and Rice and Rice Price Ratifications to protect farmers.

"I think the increase is also good news for farmers because so far HPP was previously seen as too low. Hopefully, its benefits will reach the farmers, not the tengkulak," he said.

As is known so far when farmers harvest, he said, many of the harvests did not have time to be brought home because they had been paid by tengkulak.

If that happens, he continued, the price received by farmers will still be detrimental to farmers and the benefits of increasing the HPP will be enjoyed by tengkulak.

"Therefore, maybe in the implementation of the absorption of grain and rice, there needs to be some kind of supervision or assistance, whether from Babinsa or from the related Agriculture Service, so that the HPP increase policy can be enjoyed by farmers," he said.

In addition, he hopes that the program or injection of funds for Bulog can be sustainable, in the sense that it is not only the present or the February-April period, which is the harvest period for the first planting season.

On the other hand, he said, the policy will also help the government in implementing the Free Nutrition Food Program (MBG) because it does require a supply of rice raw materials or high enough grain, so this program will also have an impact on the welfare of farmers who produce foodstuffs.

"With a decent price and farmers benefiting, this will also increase the enthusiasm and enthusiasm of farmers to cultivate better things. This spirit triggers increased productivity because they believe that even if there is a lot of harvest, someone has already bought it," he said.

He said he was worried that the main harvest would cause the price of unhulled rice to fall, it could be dismissed by the policy because farmers believe that someone will accommodate it and its reservoir does have a high need to support the MBG Program.

He saw an increase in HPP and an injection of funds for Bulog was part of the output subsidy or output that could be received by farmers, so that it was more targeted than input subsidies or inputs such as seed subsidies, fertilizers, and other production facilities.

According to him, the HPP, which is now better than the previous HPP periods, although gradually there must be efforts to increase it by being accompanied by efforts to increase people's purchasing power.

"Later, if the HPP is too high and benefits farmers more, the community will suffer losses because the price of rice has increased tremendously, it is out of control. Therefore, a solution is needed or a wise middle way," said Totok.