Chairman of the Association of Rice Milling Entrepreneurs (Perpadi), Sutarto Alimoeso, assessed that the government’s decision to prepare rice imports during the main harvest was not right, as it will have a psychological impact on the domestic rice market.
“Grain and rice prices will continue to fall,” he said in the webinar on Agricultural Development Policy Series 1: Problems and Policy of Rice Import organized by the Center for Agricultural Policy Studies (PAKTA) Faculty of Agriculture UGM and Kagama Agriculture UGM on Wednesday (14/4).
Therefore, he asked the government to review the decision to import rice to help farmers so that the fair price is acceptable to farmers. That way, farmers will remain excited to plant rice again in the next season.
“We recommend that the government increase the absorption of grain and rice in the country intensively,” explained the former president director of Perum Bulog.
In addition, he views that it is necessary to carry out national rice needs comprehensively starting from upstream, on-farm, and downstream by establishing policies following the mandate of the applicable law. It is necessary to review various ministerial regulations, including the highest retail price of rice, the government’s purchase price, and the implementation of non-cash social assistance.
“It is necessary to revitalize small rice mills to improve quality and reduce yields and efficiency, and then prepare a national logistics system in the implementation and management of food,” he added.
Professor of the Faculty of Agriculture UGM, Prof. Andi Trisyono, said that the national rice productivity has been stagnant or sloping in the last 10 years. The same thing happened in terms of harvested area. Meanwhile, the population in Indonesia continues to increase every year.
If this condition continues, it is feared that one day Indonesia will experience a rice deficit.
“Currently, we might have surplus rice, but at some point, it could be minus,” he said.
Andi said that three approaches could close the gap between those three things. They include extensification, food diversification, and intensification.
On that occasion, the Dean of the UGM Faculty of Agriculture, Dr. Jamhari, said the government needs to prepare Indonesians to consume local food. This is important to reduce dependence on food imports. Observing the richness of biodiversity for many local sources of functional food increases the opportunity to reduce dependency on imports of food sources.
“In addition, education also needs to be accompanied by innovation in the field of food processing,” he said.
Source: https://www.ugm.ac.id/id/berita/21001-impor-beras-turunkan-harga-gabah-dan-beras-dalam-negeri
