T

he government has set aside Rp 2 trillion (US$173.18 million) to maintain food security amid rising risks caused by the potential return of weather phenomenon El Niño this year.

About Rp 1 trillion of the funds would be used to boost rice stockpiles at state-owned logistics firm Bulog from 400,000 tons to 1.7 million tons, Coordinating Economic Minister Hatta Rajasa said.

'€œBulog will prioritize buying rice from local farmers to increase its stocks,'€ Hatta told reporters after a coordinating meeting at his office on Tuesday, which was attended by a number of ministers and officials, including Agriculture Minister Suswono, Trade Minister Muhammad Lutfi and Central Statistics Agency (BPS) chief Suryamin.

The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) announced earlier this month that there was a high possibility of El Niño hitting Indonesia in June or July, which could cause extreme dry weather, leading to harvest failure and fires.

It has advised the government to take necessary measures to prepare for the impact of the unfavorable weather pattern.

Goldman Sachs listed raw sugar, together with palm oil and cocoa, as key commodities that may experience production disruption. The government recently gave a nod to Bulog to import 328,000 tons of white sugar for household consumption to meet a shortage of 340,000 tons. The rest will be supplied by domestic producers '€” state-owned agribusiness firm PT Rajawali Nusantara Indonesia and PT Perkebunan Nusantara (PTPN) XI.

Agriculture Minister Suswono said that the prepared funds might also be used to mitigate the impact of worsening droughts.

'€œWhen El Niño hits, we will optimize the use of land water or water from rivers by way of pumping [to irrigate farming areas],'€ he said.

David Dawe, a Bangkok-based senior economist at the United Nations'€™ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), said that Indonesia and the Philippines, might be the countries most affected by El Niño. However, despite the possibility of less rain in both countries, decreased production would not likely happen until early next year.

'€œIf we get El Niño conditions in June, July and August, the planting decisions of farmers will be affected in November and December,'€ he said as quoted by Bloomberg.

In a separate development, the agriculture minister also said that the government had lowered the rice and soybean production targets announced in Bukittinggi, West Sumatra, in October last year.

Rice husk output has been lowered from 76 million tons to 73 million tons, while soybean output has been cut from 1.5 million tons to 1.2 million tons, according to Suswono.

Suswono said the lesser output of rice husk was expected due to a shortage of allocated state funds needed to increase planting activities from last October until March this year, while the reduced soybean output was attributed to the failure of obtaining land to expand farming areas.

The government earlier estimated that there were 155,000 hectares in transmigration regions to grow soybean.