Jokowi Inaugurates Sregen Rice Milling Center, Ganjar: We Need More
Central Java Governor Ganjar Pranowo said strengthening Bulog by increasing rice milling centers was the right step to absorb more grain from farmers. For this reason, it is necessary to increase the number of rice milling centers in regions in Indonesia, including increasing rice productivity at the farmer level.
"It's very good, we modernized it. There is a good dryer, the rice milling unit is good, it feels like Indonesia needs to make much more. The problem is that now we have been caught, yes, our productivity must be increased because actually this facility is owned by quite a lot," said Ganjar after accompanying President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) inaugurated a rice milling center in Karang Malang Village, Masaran District, Sragen Regency, Saturday, March 11.
Big problems during rice harvest, especially in extreme weather such as in recent months, are the lack of a rice dryer. Some time ago many farmers complained about the difficulty of drying rice from their crops. As a result, the quality of dry milling unhulled rice decreased and even the price of rice in the market had soared.
"The big problem of the dryer was yesterday. So in those areas it takes more so that extreme weather like this farmers can't dry because they don't have the tools. If farmers can be helped by dryers at several points, this will be very helpful and the quality will be good, the price is also good," he said.
Regarding the increase in rice productivity, Ganjar said it really needs to be boosted. According to him, if one hectare of rice can produce around 7-8 tons of rice, the food needs will be sufficient and the rice stock will exceed the market needs. That way prices can also be stable.
"If there is a lot of productivity, the assumption is that per hectare we can increase the harvest capacity to seven tons, say it's really good, thank God it can be eight tons," he said.
However, to increase productivity, the problem faced by farmers is the lack of fertilizer supply. Therefore, Ganjar encourages the supply of fertilizers, including medicines, to be a special concern. Then is the rice harvest price scheme and dry rice prices at the farmer level.
"So we need to consider the farmers' input regarding fertilizer. Our fertilizer is not much, then the required spray is like medicine. Finally, it remains only the price at the farmer level which is currently being calculated by the National Food Agency, this is quite compactated but the rice milling unit like this in my opinion needs more," he explained.
Ganjar added that strengthening Bulog's function must be done. This is to maintain food stability with much more absorption from farmers. He also advised that food liberalization begin to be reconsidered by restoring the function of Bulog.
"When Bulog can have more equipment like this, the absorption is much better. Starting from now on, we don't think about distributing food. Don't. We must return it again. I think it is important to strengthen Bulog so that national food can be fulfilled so that the hope is that more things like this can be made," he said.
President Jokowi said this year's harvest season has started in several areas, such as Kebumen and Ngawi which have just been visited. Bulog must play a role by absorbing as much unhulled rice as possible from farmers from the main harvest. Bulog is asked to absorb around 2.4 million tons of unhulled rice from farmers to maintain price stability.
"Today I ask Bulog to absorb as much grain as possible in farmers at the price of GKP which will later be determined by the head of the National Food Agency. We want prices in farmers to be reasonable, prices in traders are reasonable, all can be profitable. Consumer prices in society are also reasonable. maintaining this balance is difficult," he said.
The rice milling center itself is currently operating in seven locations. The rice milling center in Sragen is the seventh. The existence of the center is expected to strengthen Bulog's role.
"This will strengthen Bulog's strength to absorb farmers' grain with a very large capacity," he said.
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