Jakarta, Jan 17 (Antara) - The government through state-owned logistics board Bulog will increase its rice procurement from farmers and import certain volume of the commodity this year in an effort to control prices and prevent the rise of poverty rate.
"The rice price is a decisive factor that could create poverty. If it is not stable it will increase the number of poor people. Therefore, rice will be imported so that prices and poor people will not increase while domestic need is met," Vice President Jusuf Kalla said on Friday (January 8).
Besides importing rice, the government through Bulog will also increase its rice procurement this year from 2.7 million tons in 2015 to 3.9 million tons this year.
Therefore, Bulog sets a target to procure 3.9 million tons of farmers in 2016, of which 3.2 million tons would be bought through the Public Service Obligation (PSO) scheme and 700 thousand tons others through commercial purchases.
Procurement Director of Bulog, Wahyu, said on Sunday that the target of rice procurement this year was higher than that in 2015.
"Bulog will increase its rice procurement in anticipation of increasing demand for the commodity and rice price increase to beyond the proportional level," the Bulog director said.
He said that in order to realize the target Bulog had set a budget amounting to Rp30 trillion besides cooperating with its flagship farmers organization KTNA which would serve as a task force for unhusked rice procurement in the region.
By having adequate rice stock, the government could control prices which are main factors that could boost the number of poor people in the country.
According to Vice President Kalla, rice prices constitute a decisive factor in the lives of people, which is why the government felt it was responsible for maintaining the stability of rice prices. Price stability is needed to maintain stock for consumption by among others importing it from Pakistan and India.
"The main reason is to maintain price stability because the price of rice is a decisive factor. The problem is not whether it comes from Pakistan or elsewhere, but whether we have adequate stock," Vice President Jusuf Kalla stressed.
Regarding rice procurement through the commercial purchase scheme, Bulog procurement director Wahyu said his board was for the first time to decide to purchase rice through the commercial scheme. In previous years, Bulog only used the PSO scheme in buying rice from farmers to increase stock.
Bulog Corporate Secretary Djoni Nur Ashari added that Bulog had decided to raise the volume of its rice purchase this year based on its experience in 2015. Bulog this year targeted to buy 700 thousand tons of rice through the commercial scheme to anticipate the rise of rice prices that exceed the government's sanctioned price (HPP) level.
That is why, Deputy Chairman of Commission IV on agriculture of the House of Representatives (DPR), Herman Khaeron asked all sides to support the Bulog plan to procure rice based on its target in 2016.
Commission IV encourages all Bulog partners in the region to really have the commitment to supplying rice to Bulog so that it would achieve its rice procurement target.
Besides rice procurement from farmers at home, the government will also import rice to increase its stock.
Trade Minister Thomas Lembong said Indonesia decided to import 1.5 million tons of rice from Thailand and Vietnam last year. But up until December 2015, the volume of the rice that had been imported had not yet reach one million tons. So, the remaining one will be imported in the first quarter of 2016.
Besides that Indonesia is studying the possibility of importing rice from Pakistan, Minister Thomas has said. "Efforts to cooperate in this sector are on-going. We already have a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Pakistani government through a government-to-government partnership. Now, the state logistics board Bulog is studying the technical details of rice stock in Pakistan," he noted.
Besides Pakistan, Indonesia is also looking at India, as the world biggest rice exporter, to import rice. Indonesia and India will soon sign a MoU to that effect.
The plan to import the rice was initiated by the Ministry of Trade in its efforts to increase rice stock at home, Thomas said.
The planned rice import by Indonesia from Pakistan was also reported by the 'Pakistan Today' in its Friday (January 8) edition. It carried a story on an agreement between Pakistan, through its Trade Minister Khurram Dastgir Khan, and Indonesia on the rice export deal.
Pakistan agreed to export one million tons of rice worth US$400 million for a six-year period from 2016 - 2019.
The rice export agreement was signed between Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) and Indonesia's Perum Bulog. Apart from Pakistan, Indonesia was also known to have concluded a rice import deal with India.***3***(A014/b003/B003)(T.A014/A/A. Abdussalam/Bustanuddin) 17-01-2016 22:07:1 |
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