It's Time For Cooking Oil To Become The Authority Of The National Food Agency

Illustration. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - Member of Commission IV of the DPR, Ibnu Multazam, has a suggestion that the management of cooking oil needs to be included in the main tasks and functions (tupoksi) of the National Food Agency (NFA).

So far, the only commodities included in the main tasks of the National Food Agency are rice, corn, soybeans, chicken/poultry meat, beef/buffalo, chicken eggs, garlic and shallots.

"First, there must be a presidential regulation (perpres) or a revision of the Presidential Regulation that orders cooking oil to become the business of the National Food Agency. Cooking oil is part of basic ingredients such as rice, corn, soybeans, and others," said Ibnu in a written statement received at Jakarta, Friday April 1st.

The problem of cooking oil that is happening today is because cooking oil in Indonesia, from upstream to downstream, is managed by the private sector.

For this reason, the government needs to create its own cooking oil factory by appointing one of the state-owned enterprises, such as ID Food. With the presence of a cooking oil company in this BUMN, it is hoped that the government will be able to better control the cooking oil problem.

"If there is a state-owned company that produces oil, it can later become a buffer stock for the government. For example, if it is on the verge of being scarce, it is possible for this state-owned company, in this case the government, to increase its production capacity," Ibnu said as quoted by Antara.

Then regarding the government's readiness regarding food stocks ahead of Eid, the legislator said that the government had said the availability of food ahead of Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr is currently sufficient. Thus, the DPR as a supervisor will monitor later on the reality on the ground.

Previously, the National Food Agency together with the SOE Food holding ID FOOD were ready to secure the availability of 9 strategic foodstuffs ahead of Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr.

According to the Head of NFA Arief Prasetyo Adi, it is hoped that ID FOOD with NFA can accelerate the realization of food availability and affordability at affordable prices.

Food holding ID FOOD can synergize to accelerate food stock and price data through the platform and centralize it with NFA food data.

That way, the NFA has valid central data both at the producer and consumer levels. According to him, this is also to mitigate the risk of scarcity of basic food items, which causes a number of food prices to rise ahead of Religious Holidays.