Anjlok Vegetable Price, Legislator Hopes There Will Be Breakthroughs In Prabowo's Government

Photo by Devi Puspita Amartha Yahya on Unsplash

JAKARTA - The price of vegetables in a number of regions in Indonesia has fallen, causing Indonesia's farmers and food industry to lose money. Member of the Indonesian House of Representatives Daniel Johan encouraged the new government to compromise programs to increase food productivity in the country amid the onslaught of food imports that threaten Indonesia's food sovereignty.

"Of course food is very important, we hope that food will be a top priority for the next government. This issue includes the attention of the DPR," said Daniel, Monday, October 14.

It is known, the drop in vegetable prices due to overproduction. Some time ago farmers often harvested their crops at the same time, so the market became oversupply, causing the selling price to drop drastically.

In addition, the recent mass consumption of vegetables has also contributed to the decline in prices. Many consumers choose cheap vegetables rather than expensive ones and cause an increase in market supply without the same proportion.

Daniel assessed that the phenomenon of the drop in vegetable prices exacerbated the progress of the food sector in Indonesia.

"In the midst of the rise of imports of food products, including rice, the phenomenon of vegetable prices that have fallen is bad news for our agricultural industry. The peak of food imports that have occurred for two years must be circumvented," he said.

Daniel also emphasized the importance of a new breakthrough from the Government to increase agricultural production. Moreover, Elected President Prabowo Subianto has concerns about agriculture and food independence.

The people's economy is now slumping. Everything is having a hard time living. Purchasing power has plummeted so that the government must really look for smart breakthrough ways, especially in an effort to realize food sovereignty as our common goal, "said Daniel.

"But the steps taken should not burden the community too much, for example with an increase in taxes. So that we can really realize Indonesia's strength," he continued.

The phenomenon of vegetable prices plummeting has a direct impact on farmers, because at low prices it makes small profits for farmers and vegetable sellers. In fact, some farmers prefer to give vegetables carelessly rather than sell them at low prices.

Farmers complain that production costs remain high, ranging from soil costs, seeds, fertilizers to manual work. However, because the selling price dropped drastically, the profit obtained was minimal. Daniel also highlighted how the issue of fertilizer subsidies, which so far there are still many problems, contributed as a factor in the lack of agricultural productivity.

"The government needs to manage subsidized fertilizers properly. Do not let this become a source of corruption, because this concerns the fate of farmers in order to reduce production costs. So the fertilizer subsidy continues without corruption," he said.

Furthermore, Daniel, who in the previous DPR period served in Commission IV with a focus on work in the agricultural and food sectors, hopes that Prabowo's government in the future can improve programs for farmers. That way, Indonesia's food productivity will get better.

"We increase productivity of existing land. That's number one, meaning that immigration really needs to be considered, tertiary must also be right, don't let anyone get stuck," said Daniel.

The price of vegetables fell in 2019 which resulted in the action of vegetable motorcycle taxi drivers in Jabbil throwing their vegetables on the road. At that time, the Government, in this case the Ministry of Agriculture, gave ten steps to keep supply and vegetable prices stable even though they were in an overproduction situation.

First, farmers use superior seeds, secondly follow the arrangement of the time of the planting pattern so that the monthly needs can be met, provide organic fertilizer, use environmentally friendly pesticides, after a good harvest.

Then downstream with the household-scale processing industry, in partnership with business actors and exporters, as well as building efficient trading systems by forming cooperatives. The next step is to build an auction market in plantations, and finally encourage products to be able to enter the modern market, so as to increase the opportunity for vegetable exports.

According to Daniel, all these steps can be successful if the government is consistent in carrying out these programs.

"Currently, the problem is implementation that is not in accordance with theory," he said.

For this reason, Daniel hopes that the programs that have been made can be carried out consistently. Such as vegetable distribution steps from areas that are on a major harvest to areas that lack stock or are experiencing a surge in vegetable prices.

"Or by regulating the vegetable sales system so that the price offered to consumers according to the price paid by farmers can run well," said Daniel.

"With clear price transparency, it can protect farmers from price manipulation by middlemen or unethical distributors," he added.

Daniel also highlighted notes from the Indonesian Farmers' Union (SPI) about the current failure of the government in realizing food self-sufficiency in Indonesia. SPI noted that the policy of converting agricultural fertile lands into non-food and large control of corporations against agricultural land was a failure by the Government and hoped that President Prabowo's government would not repeat it in the future.

According to Daniel, Prabowo's commitment to realizing food self-sufficiency in Indonesia in the next four years will certainly be supported by the DPR. Even so, he reminded that every program that will be carried out has actually gone through an in-depth study, such as the food estate program or food center development.

"If there really is a new land, there really is a good food estate. Don't let it fail. Because we have failed dozens of years. That's why there must be a really detailed study so that the sovereignty of eating in Indonesia can be realized," concluded Daniel.