Bapanas to Stop Rice Import During Great Harvest

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Head of the National Food Agency (Bapanas) Arief Prasetyo Adi confirmed that the price of farmers' rice during a period of the great harvest will not be affected by rice import. Arief promised that rice import will be halted during the time of great harvest to allow farmers' rice prices to remain stable.

"When it is the great harvest, we will close down Bulog's import," Arief said on Tuesday, January 10, 2023.

Arief explained that currently Bulog is in the process of attempting to achieve its import target of 200 thousand tons, which is yet to be achieved. In addition, Bulog still has another 300 thousand tons of import target until February 2023. Arief said that the number of rice imported as of December 2022 had only reached 62 thousand tons.

Arief asserted that rice import is still needed because the government's rice reserve (CBP) is yet to achieve its 1.2 million tons safe limit. Arief explained that such condition is apparent from the high price of rice.

The Ministry of Trade's Market and Staple Needs Monitoring System recorded that the price for medium rice as of 10 January 2023 increase by 2.73 percent to a level of Rp11,300 per kilogram, which is higher compared to last month. Meanwhile, premium rice price had reached Rp13,200 per kilogram.

The National Strategic Food Price Information Center (PIHPS) recorded that medium rice price had reached Rp12,750 per kilogram. Meanwhile, the price for super I quality rice reached up to Rp14,100 per kilogram, and the price for low-quality rice is at Rp11,550 per kilogram.

For the same period, the Jakarta Food website also recorded medium-quality rice prices increase by Rp44 compared to the previous day to a level of Rp10,344 per kilogram. Meanwhile, price for IR 42 rice had reached Rp12,583 per kilogram and the price of premium rice is recorded at Rp12,742 per kilogram.

Based on Bapanas record, CBP stock available in Bulog warehouses is currently 330 thousand tons. Arief underlined that the government will force Bulog to distribute CBP to prevent rice price increases in the market.

Bapanas also assured that rice prices will immediately decrease after all of the imported rice arrived. Arief even predicted that rice prices will drop during the great harvest, which is predicted to occur around February or March.

Meanwhile, Minister of Agriculture Syahrul Yasin Limpo announced a great harvest in Ciptamarga Village, Jayakerta Sub-District, Karawang Regency on Monday, January 9, 2023. Syahrul mentioned that rice production from Karawang is the benchmark for the success of national rice production.

Based on the Ministry of Agrarian record, rice production results during the great harvest period reached up to eight tons per hectare with a land area of around 2,000 hectares. The rice production number increases from the normal five to six tons per hectare. Consequently, referring to BPS prediction, the total width of harvested fields as of February 2023 is predicted to reach four million hectares and the peak of the harvest season will occur from March to April 2023.

Assuming the rice productivity from each hectare of land, it is predicted that the country will have approximately four million tons of production excess.

RIANI SANUSI PUTRI

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