Gov’t Ensures Staple Food Supply During Christmas, New Year Holidays
Minister of Agriculture Syahrul Yasin Limpo. Photo by: PR of Cabinet Secretariat
The Government has ensured availability of staple food during the upcoming Christmas and New Year holidays, Minister of Agriculture Syahrul Yasin Limpo has said.
“We have enough supply of 11 staple food commodities, including rice, corn, sugar, meat, and other commodities until the end of next year,” the official web of Ministry of Agriculture pertanian.go.id quoted the Minister on Thursday (24/12).
According to Syahrul, Ministry of Agriculture, the State Logistics Agency (Bulog) and Ministry of Trade are continuously working hand in hand under the coordination of Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs to guarantee supply of staple food.
“Food security is very strategic and complicated. Therefore, we must avoid mistakes in making predictions or processing the data,” he said, adding that Ministry of Agriculture regularly monitors market development and food supply, especially rice supply.
Echoing a similar sentiment, President Director of Bulog Budi Waseso said that the cooperation between the agency and Ministry of Agriculture had been going well, adding that Bulog would continue to monitor the existing food production to synchronize the data.
“Bulog has the obligation to maintain food supply across the country. We regularly monitor food sector, including during the harvest period. Thank God, we have sufficient food supply. Moreover, Ministry of Agriculture has provided programs that accelerate food production. As of today, we don’t have to import food commodities,” he said.
In the meantime, Deputy for Food and Agribusiness Coordination of Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs Musdhalifah Machmud said that Indonesia has overcome the food deficit amid COVID-19 pandemic.
For the record, the national rice supply records a surplus of 6.5 million tons, corn supply records a surplus of 1.5 million tons, beef supply records a surplus of 131,000 tons, and chicken meat supply records a surplus of 275,000 tons. (Public Relations of Ministry of Agriculture/UN) (RI/EP)
