REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- The difference in data on food in various government's institutions should be overcome soon. Therefore, it will provide strong foundation for taking a policy, a legislator said.
"Transparency on national food data should be upheld. After all, several ministries have different data about food production and consumption," Viva Yoga Mauladi, deputy chairman of Commission IV of the House of Representatives (DPR), said in a written statement here on Monday.
He stated that having different data about food production and consumption reflected the presence of 'data war' among institutions within the government.
Mauladi, who is a PAN party politician, remarked that the ministries which have different data on food included the ministries of agriculture, maritime and fisheries, trade, and industry.
Also read: BPK says food data marred with chronic faults
The PAN politician noted that if it is not solved, the difference in data on food can have the potential to be made a political 'commodity.'
For this purpose, the government needs to soon evaluate the commodity and food data, he added. Moreover, the food distribution under the coordination of the Coordinating Minister of Economy has yet to be running maximally.
Mauladi also highlighted the policy of rice import, which was carried out even though some rice producing regions, such as Cirebon and West Java, were experiencing harvest. Rice harvest yields an increase of about 10 percent compared to the previous year.
According to him, rice imports conducted in the middle of the harvest time in various regions will lead to a decrease in the price of farmers' rice whose impacts will affect the level of farmers' welfare.
As previously reported, state-owned logistics board Perum Bulog stated that the stock of strategic food commodities, especially rice, is sufficient and safe to meet the needs of the people ahead of Ramadan and Idul Fitri 2018.
Director of Operations and Public Service of Bulog, Karyawan Gunarso, at a discussion at the Ministry of Communications and Informatics remarked in Jakarta on Friday (May 11) that the current rice stock of 1.2 million tons consisted of 1.050 million tons of government rice reserves (CBP) and the rest of the Bulog commercial rice.
He explained that Bulog's stock of rice is very dynamic because there is absorption and distribution every day. With an average absorption of 15 thousand tons per day, Bulog targets to absorb 300 thousand tons of rice by the end of May.
Earlier, Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Darmin Nasution monitored the development of basic food prices and supplies ahead of the fasting month of Ramadan.
"(We discuss) price development of not just rice but meat as well," Nasution revealed after attending a coordination meeting in his office, Jakarta, on Wednesday (April 25) night.
The meeting was also attended by Minister of Trade Enggartiasto Lukita. Lukita guaranteed that there will be no increase in prices before Ramadan in 50 percent of the country's 34 provinces.
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