Criticizing Imports Of 103 Thousand Tons Of Garlic

Garlic illustration. (Photo: Unsplash)

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Agriculture admits that it has issued a recommendation to import horticultural products (RIPH) for garlic with a total volume of 103 thousand tons. The openness of the RIPH process has drawn criticism.

The Ministry of Agriculture is considered not open to granting the RIPH and should not carry out this hasty import to rule out allegations of certain interests, including politics in it.

Member of Commission IV DPR RI Darori Wonodipuro questioned the lack of transparency of the Ministry of Agriculture in granting RIPH. In fact, according to him, the problem of transparency has also triggered a scene when the DPR invited various parties, including associations related to garlic.

"It was a fuss when we invited the association. So the picky RIPH is not transparent. Many cannot. It should be transparent. It should be open. When the RDP association protested. Good companies are given, which are not good, no," Darori said in a statement. statement received, Wednesday 12 February.

According to him, the Ministry of Agriculture should also talk together with associations to investigate companies that apply for RIPH. The ministry is judged to be less strict in monitoring.

Apart from that, the DPR also thinks that there is a strange ministerial regulation. Changes in regulations prior to the change of ministers should be investigated and their application clarified for importers.

"The importer should be obliged to plant five percent of the plan. Now, it's reversed. The planting will be later. If I propose, there is a guarantee in the onion plant. So the importer deposits the money as large as the plant plan." he said.

Political Interests

The Executive Director of the Center for Budget Analysis (CBA), Uchok Sky Khadafi, urged the Ministry of Agriculture to be transparent in explaining, not only about the urgency of imports, but also about importing companies. He said that transparency is very necessary to emphasize the presence or absence of certain interests, including political interests.

For that, Uchok asked the government to be open to the public. He also urged the KPK to investigate this import. "There must be supervision from the KPK on the granting of RIPH so that this decision-making is not to accommodate interests, for example political parties," he said.

Secretary of the Directorate General of Horticulture at the Ministry of Agriculture, Liliek Srie Utami, said that the RIPH process for garlic had been submitted by importers since mid-November 2019. According to Liliek, the issuance of the 103 thousand tonnes of onions RIPH was also not a sudden decision.

He admitted that the issuance of RIPH was not sudden because there was a coordination meeting with the Ministry of Trade and the Presidential Staff Office on Thursday, February 6, 2020.

"We have been processing (RIPH) since November 15, 2019, so it is not immediately issued," he said. Meanwhile, for the list of importers who have quotas, as well as the amount, he admitted that he did not hold the data in detail.

Economic observer Muliadi Widjaja thinks that there is something wrong with this import. The Ministry of Agriculture can be considered more defending importers than farmers. He should have said that if they are pro farmers, they do not need to import when the stock is still sufficient.

He also suspects that there are political interests from political parties to participate in the appointment of importers. According to him, this allegation is reasonable because farmers always 'lose' to importers.

"Importers are always won by the government rather than farmers, because there are allegations of importers' payments to parties," he said.