Ina Parlina, The Jakarta Post 26 Sep 15;
Current rice stocks were sufficient to weather the peak of the El Niño weather phenomenon, the government announced on Friday.
Presidential Chief of Staff Teten Masduki said on Friday that President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo was continuing to monitor the efforts to ensure that rice stocks were sufficient and evenly distributed throughout the country.
Teten issued the statement amid reports that the government was planning to import rice from neighboring countries Thailand and Vietnam because of the El Niño impact.
“There is indeed a threat, a possibility that [the calculation of] food stocks might be changed by El Niño. But, until now, the food stocks at Bulog [State Logistics Agency] are relatively sufficient,” Teten said at the Presidential Palace on Friday.
The Central Statistics Agency (BPS) recently acknowledged that its national rice output estimate of 75.5 million tons this year did not factor in the potential impact of El Niño, hinting that the real production figure could be lower as a result of harvest failure.
The estimate was based on real production between January and April without taking into account potential crop failures resulting from the long drought in the harvest season between May and December. The figure showed a 6.64 percent increase compared with last year.
Bulog has said that by December, the agency’s stocks of subsidized rice would reach 62,000 tons from the 1.5 to 2 million tons needed to meet next year’s demand, while its current total remaining stocks stood at 1.7 million tons.
Meanwhile, Vice President Jusuf Kalla said on Tuesday that Bulog was currently in the process of purchasing around 1.5 million tons of rice from Thailand and Vietnam following concerns that rising prices of Indonesia’s staple food could cause social unrest.
Teten, however, declined to comment on the plan.
“This is not about whether to import or not to import. It is about how the government ensures that prices are affordable amid people’s weakening purchasing power caused by the current global economic slowdown,” Teten said.
The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) has predicted that the El Niño weather phenomenon will reach its peak in October, while the prolonged drought has caused harvest failures in several rice-producing regions.
According to Teten, the precise effect that El Niño would have on national rice production was still being calculated.
“But, rest assured, the President is giving his full attention to matters related to food stocks,” Teten added.
In its efforts to anticipate El Niño-related drought and harvest failure, the government has built irrigation channels spanning 1.3 million hectares, small dams and shallow wells. The Agriculture Ministry has also distributed 21,000 water pumps to farmers in drought-prone areas.
Jokowi: RI has sufficient rice stocks
The Jakarta Post 28 Sep 15;
President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has said that the country’s current rice stocks are sufficient and no imports are necessary.
“Rice demand can be met by our farmers’ production, so there’s no need for imports. We have imported no rice, despite pressure to do so,” the President said during a visit to rice fields in Cikarang village in Karawang, West Java, on Sunday, as quoted by Antara news agency.
Indonesia’s rice stocks reach 1.7 million tons at present. In October and November, there would be further rice harvests, Jokowi added.
“That’s plenty, that’s safe,” he said.
Some of the stock will be distributed to poor families and put into reserves as the country is facing a dry season prolonged by El Niño.
The government, Jokowi said, was expecting an additional supply of 15 million tons from upcoming harvests between now and December.
“The future challenge is how to provide incentives for farmers to encourage them to produce more rice,” he said.
The government has designated six provinces — West Java, East Java, Central Java, North Sumatra, South Sumatra and South Sulawesi — to be the country’s main food producers, meeting the majority of national demand. The Central Statistics Agency (BPS) recently acknowledged that its national rice output estimate of 75.5 million tons this year did not factor in the potential impact of El Niño, hinting that the real production figure could be lower as a result of harvest failure.
The estimate, which represented a 6.64 percent increase compared with last year, was based on real production between January and April without taking into account potential crop failures resulting from the long dry spell during the harvest season between May and December.
The State Logistics Agency (Bulog) has said that by December, the agency’s stocks of subsidized rice will reach 62,000 tons of the 1.5 to 2 million tons needed to meet next year’s demand, while its current total remaining stocks stand at 1.7 million tons.
President Jokowi was accompanied by First Lady Iriana on his visit to the village in Karawang, which is a major rice-producing area.
