Jokowi Inspects Harvest in Indramayu; Assures Food Reserve is Safe

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo inspected the harvest in Karanglayung Village, Indramayu on Friday. The president informed that the government's food reserve is currently safe. 

The harvest this round is quite good, the president said, with farmers producing eight to nine tonnes of rice per hectare of rice field. "Since the condition of the irrigation system in Indramayu is still terrific," he said in a press release.  However, the president did not deny that rice production experienced a decrease due to El Nino, albeit not severe.

According to Jokowi, the government still intends to import 500 to 600 thousand of rice, while the rice reserve owned by the National Logistics Agency currently amounts to 1.7 million tonnes. "Meaning, our reserve is safe at the time, but we still need more rice to enter the market and lower the prices gradually," he said.

Rice prices have indeed been soaring these past few months, although it is starting to lower recently. For example, the National Food Agency reported that the average price of medium rice this week has been lowered by 0.18% compared to last week. The prices of premium rice also have lowered by 4.25% from the previous month at Rp14,983 per kilogram.

During this harvest, President Jokowi was accompanied by Acting Minister of Agriculture Arief Prasetyo Adi and Acting Governor of West Java Bey Machmudin.

DANIEL A. FADJRI

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