President Jokowi Inspects Rice Supply at Bulog Warehouses

President Jokowi inspects the supply of rice at Bulog warehouse, Kelapa Gading, Jakarta, Monday (09/11). (Photo by: Agung/PR)

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo reviewed the availability of government rice reserves (CBP) on Monday (09/11) at warehouses of the state-owned logistics company Bulog in Bogor (West Java province) and Kelapa Gading (Jakarta province).

“I came to the Bulog warehouses in Jakarta, maybe later to other regions to ensure the availability of the rice stock,” said the President.

According to him, the rice stock in Bulog’s warehouse currently reaches 1.6 million tons.

“There are already 1.6 million [tons] in the warehouse, 400,000 tons are on the way here so there will be a stock of 2 million [tons]. Usually our stock is only 1.2 million [tons]. Now we have 2 million [tons], so we don’t need to worry,” said the President.

Even though the rice stock in Bulog’s warehouse is sufficient, the President said that the Government still needs to import rice to ensure that rice stock reserves are met. This is also to reduce the increase in rice prices in the market due to the El Nino phenomenon which occurs in almost all countries.

“This is to ensure that we have a sufficient stock reserve and to prevent an increase in rice price. Because due to El Nino, the production is decline although the numbers are not that significant,” he said.

Furthermore, President Jokowi said that he had spoken with a number of state leaders about importing rice to Indonesia. According to the President, the negotiation process was carried out by the Bulog to ensure that the transaction is succeed.

“I have spoken with Prime Minister of Cambodia Hun Manet, with President of Bangladesh, with Prime Minister of India Modi, with Premier of China Li. We already have a lot of stock, but we are still looking at others not only for this year but also for next year,” he added.

On the occasion, President Jokowi also distributed food aid rice to beneficiary families. The President said that the food aid will be distributed from September to November.

“Every month approximately 210,000 tons are released by the Bulog for food aid and this has started continuously in September, October, November. If the stock is still available, it will be continued again so that people are not affected by the increase in rice prices,” he said. (FID/TGH/UN) (EST/LW)