Airlangga Guarantees The Stock Of Cooking Oil Until Shallots Are Safe During Ramadan

Airlangga Hartarto

JAKARTA - Coordinating Minister for the Economy Airlangga Hartarto ensures that food is still available during the month of Ramadan.

Airlangga explained the government's strategy to ensure food availability during Ramadan. The guarantee was conveyed by Airlangga while speaking at a webinar held by the Indonesian Muslim Intellectuals Association (ICMI) on Friday, March 18 yesterday.

A number of foodstuffs that are of concern to the government are cooking oil, soybeans, beef, shallots, and red chilies.

Airlangga admitted that the government had coordinated with all parties to ensure the availability of this food.

"The government has formulated and made policies that focus on three aspects of food security, namely availability, price affordability, and food security," said Airlangga in a webinar entitled "Anticipating Food Availability During Ramadan and Eid" held by ICMI.

This food security strategy is expected to support the smooth running of worship and the fulfillment of community food during Ramadan.

The Coordinating Minister for the Economy said that aspects of food availability, provision of production facilities and infrastructure as well as market access and smooth distribution were the main focus of the government.

According to him, monitoring of food surplus and deficit areas will continue to be carried out so that the government can respond quickly if there are regions experiencing food deficits.

SOEs in the field of transportation and transportation, especially those included in the marine highway network, will be optimized to ensure the smooth distribution of food to various regions.

Regarding cooking oil, the General Chair of the Golkar Party DPP emphasized that the government has issued a number of policies related to selling prices at the consumer level. That is according to the economic price for packaged Palm Cooking Oil (MGS) in the modern market and the price of Rp. 14,000.00/liter for bulk MGS in the traditional market.

In addition to providing subsidies in the supply of bulk cooking oil, the government also coordinates with producers to ensure the availability of cooking oil in the market.

For soybean commodities, the government has assigned Perum BULOG to carry out a soybean purchase assistance program for tofu and tempeh craftsmen.

"So it is hoped that tofu and tempeh can still be enjoyed by the community as an alternative source of protein. Subsidies will also be given to soybean commodities, so that the selling price can be maintained in the range of Rp. 11,000 per kilogram," said Airlangga.

Meanwhile, for beef commodities, the government has encouraged the industry and Perum BULOG to accelerate the supply of beef.

The government prepares buffalo meat as a buffer for the availability of animal protein needs, as well as other protein alternatives through chicken and fish.

"The government continues to be highly committed to ensuring the availability of food for the community, especially in entering the month of Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr 1443 H. Collaboration of various parties is needed to ensure that food is available in the community," said Coordinating Minister Airlangga.