Thus, Khudori said there need to be stricter supervision in fulfilling the government’s rice reserve (CBP) because when there is a shift or climate anomaly such as El Nino or La Nina, the pattern of crop production also changes. Moreover, the character of rice, which has limited shelf life, requires integrated management, from procurement, stock management to distribution.
Previously, HKTI national executive board chairman Fadli Zon revealed that this year’s total production was 55.7 million tons, up 2.31 percent from last year. Meanwhile, there are 594,000 tons of rice stockpile in State Logistics Agency’s (Bulog) warehouses, consisting of 426,000 government’s rice reserve and around 168 tons of commercial rice. This is still far from the government’s target of 1.2 million tonnes of CBP. As a result, the government plans to import rice next year to meet CBP.
Dwi Andreas, a professor from the Bogor Agricultural University (IPB) who also attended the seminar, said rice production must be maintained and factors affecting rice stocks must be taken into account because 60 percent of rice supply is distributed to households. (bp)