Evidenced To Be Effective Press Inflation, Food Agency For Cheap Food Titles In Various Regions

Head of the National Food Agency Arief Prasetyo Adi. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - The National Food Agency (National Food Agency) is making efforts to control food inflation by the end of the year by holding cheap food in various regions, as well as mobilizing food from surplus areas to deficit areas.

"We will see the dynamics of national food prices at the consumer level in the past week, if I may mention the first medium rice last week, there was an increase of 0.04 percent. Then this soybean has a 0.57 percent increase, red cayenne pepper 2.53 percent and broiler eggs. These are items that we must protect together in December, "said Head of the National Food Agency Arief Prasetyo Adi in an official statement quoted by Antara, Tuesday, December 6.

For this reason, his party focuses on preparing food mobilization and cheap food titles simultaneously during December. Food mobilization carried out through distribution facilitation or Business to Business (B2B) from surplus areas to deficit areas will be carried out in the first to third week of December.

The mobilization action includes the mobilization of Corn from Bima (NTB) to Kendal (Central Java) and Blitar (East Java) in the first to second week of December by Gapoktan Corn and Kendal and Blitar Breeder Cooperatives.

In addition, live bird or live chicken mobilization from Java Island to East Indonesia Region in the first and second week of December with PT Berdikari, mobilizing sugar and cooking oil in the first to third week of December with ID Food, as well as mobilizing rice from South Sulawesi to the islands and Eastern Indonesia in the first to third week of December by Perum Bulog and rice milling.

The action of holding cheap food, he continued, was boosted in the first to fourth week of December at more than 235 points spread across 20 provinces.

Provinces that will carry out cheap food titles include Aceh, Riau, Bengkulu, Jambi, South Sumatra, Lampung, DKI Jakarta, Banten, West Java, Central Java, DI Yogyakarta, East Java, West Kalimantan, North Sulawesi, Central Sulawesi, South Sulawesi, NTT, Maluku, North Maluku and Papua.

The cheap food event was carried out through the collaboration of NFA, Bank Indonesia, together with the Provincial and District Food Affairs Office, Food SOEs, Cooperatives, and Associations. This activity is a form of good cooperation between the center and the regions in suppressing inflation in all cities/regencies in Indonesia," he explained.

According to Arief, the two actions proved effective in controlling food inflation in October and November so that the implementation continued to be improved in December. Based on data from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) in October, food group inflation was at -0.97 percent (mtm) and November was at 0.00 percent (mtm). Food inflation (yoy) has decreased in October 1.72 percent and in November to 1.50 percent.