Regarding Illegal Rice Imports From Malaysia And Singapore, Ministry Of Agriculture: That's Not TRUE, Only Issues

Illustration (Photo: Doc. Antara)

TANJUNGPINANG - Head of the Agricultural Quarantine Agency (Barantan) of the Ministry of Agriculture (Kementan) Bambang straightened out information regarding illegal rice imports from abroad through the Riau Islands Province (Kepri).

From the information received by agricultural quarantine, he said, there were tens to hundreds of sacks of illegal rice entering from neighboring Malaysia and Singapore.

"The information is not true, it's just an issue," Bambang said as quoted by Antara, Tuesday, December 27.

According to him, the conditions that occurred in the field were that people or passengers from Riau Islands who returned from Malaysia or Singapore brought rice measuring 2 to 10 kilograms, and had gone through an agricultural quarantine check at the arrival gate to ensure the food products were free from disease pests.

"If that's the case, we understand, maybe people want to try eating rice from abroad, even the amount is small," he said.

In addition, Bambang also ensures that quarantine services run smoothly and food availability remains stable during the 2022 Christmas and 2023 New Year holidays.

In an effort to increase supervision of agricultural commodity traffic, he invites all elements of local government to continue to increase synergies to jointly supervise.

"Maintaining the preservation of natural resources is a shared responsibility, let's work together to protect this country from threats of entry and spread of disease pests," said Bambang.

According to Bambang, the smooth flow of distribution from production centers to markets is an intervention in accordance with the direction of the Indonesian Minister of Agriculture Syahrul Yasin Limpo so that food supply during Christmas and New Year celebrations.

Thus, he continued, accelerating quarantine services in line with food safety supervision is his priority and the ranks of agricultural quarantine.

"We continue to increase synergy with relevant agencies and the security forces of the TNI/Polri to oversee the availability of food in the country," said Bambang.