Considered Incompetent, The Ombudsman Asks The Government To Review The Performance Of The Quarantine Agency Of The Ministry Of Agriculture

JAKARTA - The Indonesian Ombudsman appealed to the government to review the performance of the Agricultural Quarantine Agency of the Ministry of Agriculture, especially the Animal Quarantine in preventing and tackling the mouth and nail disease (PMK) outbreak. Animals," said a member of the Indonesian Ombudsman, Yeka H Fatika, while giving a press statement at the Indonesian Ombudsman's Office, Jakarta, Thursday, July 14. According to him, the Agricultural Quarantine Agency, particularly the Animal Quarantine, had failed to identify the risk of spreading the FMD outbreak from East Java to the regions. -other areas in Indonesia so that the outbreak of the epidemic occurred. Then, Yeka also conveyed about the weak supervision function of the Quarantine Agency. He said this could be seen from the emergence of three types of exotic diseases or livestock disease outbreaks in Indonesia from 2019 to May 2022, namely the African swine fever outbreak, skin rash, and FMD. 820/2019 concerning the Epidemic of African Swine Fever, Ministry of Agriculture Number 242/2022 concerning Outbreaks of Bumpy Skin Disease, and Ministry of Agriculture Number 403/2022 and Ministry of Agriculture Number 404/2022 concerning FMD Outbreaks in East Java and Aceh Provinces," he explained, quoted by Antara. The infectious animal disease, he said, is a disease that is very detrimental to the livestock industry in Indonesia. In fact, the diseases spread rapidly to other provinces and other islands.

Furthermore, he also explained a number of implementations of the Animal Quarantine Agency's performance which was assessed by the Indonesian Ombudsman as not in harmony with the existing animal health functions at the central and regional levels. , districts, and cities for animals imported from other regions. This, he said, resulted in the failure or difficulty of implementing early warning by regional authorities in preventing the spread of disease outbreaks related to the livestock sector. local authorities, even though this is also regulated in Article 16 paragraph (2) of Government Regulation Number 82/2000 concerning Animal Quarantine," he said.