The Palace Calls The Ministry Of Agriculture And Bulog Focus On Fixing Rice Storage Management So That No More Rice Drops Quality

Illustration. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - Minister of State Secretary (Mensesneg) Prasetyo Hadi, who is also the Presidential Spokesperson, explained that the Ministry of Agriculture and Perum Bulog are focused on improving rice storage management so that in the future there will be no more quality-degrading rice or lowering quality.

Pras, Prasetyo's nickname, said that ahead of the harvest period in the next few weeks, the government is preparing new warehouses, which are not only managed by the center, but also by local governments.

"The focus of the Ministry of Agriculture and friends in Bulog is how to improve storage management and we need to realize that our warehouses are in a condition that needs improvement, including the addition of new warehouse construction in 100 places," said Prasetyo Hadi in response to reporters' questions when met by media crews, in front of President Prabowo Subianto's private residence, Jalan Kertanegara, Jakarta, Sunday, October 12, quoted by Antara.

In Kertanegara, President Prabowo chaired a limited meeting for approximately three hours with his staff, including Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka, ministers and heads of institutions, including Coordinating Minister for Food Affairs Zulkifli Hasan, and Minister of Agriculture Andi Amran Sulaiman.

Pras, when asked whether the findings of tens of thousands of tons of rice in Bulog's warehouse decreased to the President's records, answering that this was not directly reported by the ministers, but the issue has become a special concern for the government, especially the Ministry of Agriculture and Perum Bulog.

"Alhamdulillah, the rice harvest (predicted, ed.) will increase at the end of this year to enter the harvest period, and we will prepare a new warehouse. The TNI-Polri are also asked to create an innovation warehouse, and coordinate with the Ministry of Home Affairs so that it reaches the village head, we encourage the food center to return as before. have food barns in each village," continued Pras.

The National Food Agency (Bapanas) last week announced that 29,990 tons of rice stored in Bulog's warehouse had decreased in quality or decreased in quality. Of that figure, 26,890 tons of them are imported rice, and about 3,000 tons of local rice.

Minister of Agriculture Andi Amran Sulaiman, when asked about the matter during a press conference at the Presidential Office of the Republic of Indonesia, Jakarta, Thursday (9/10), said that this condition was difficult to avoid considering the abundant production of domestic rice.

Amran then said that when compared to the total amount of rice stored at around 4.2 million tons, the declining quality of rice was only around 0.071 percent.

"In the past there was no damage because the rice was not available, there was less (production, ed.). Now there is a lot of rice to the warehouse rental of 1.2 million tons of warehouse capacity now. We want to build a warehouse now," said Amran.