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Synthetic rice issue aimed at hampering development of analog rice: Economic expert
Institute for Development of Economics and Finance (INDEF) economist Enny Sri Hartati has said the synthetic rice issue is just part of an effort to impede the development of analog rice
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nstitute for Development of Economics and Finance (INDEF) economist Enny Sri Hartati has said the synthetic rice issue is just part of an effort to impede the development of analog rice.
"Currently, a number of research institutes and universities are developing analog rice in an effort to increase food diversity in Indonesia,' said Enny as quoted by Antara in Jakarta on Sunday.
The expert said analog rice was a food commodity that looked like normal rice but was made from all kinds of tubers, making it suitable and safe for consumption.
If the research is successful and can be done on a large scale, it could support national food needs, she said.
Enny went on to say that she doubted the synthetic rice issue was driven by economics, since plastic production cost more than rice production.
'If it is based on certain economic motives, the synthetic rice should have been distributed at a higher price because according to economic principles, we want to buy goods as cheaply as possible and sell them at a higher price. But this did not happen with what was rumored to be 'synthetic rice'. Thus, it is likely that there are other motives behind the synthetic rice issue,' she said.
The INDEF economist said a number of parties had reportedly attempted to hamper the development of analog rice as they were concerned the newly discovered staple food would disrupt consumers' dependence on rice.
'Once analog rice enters markets, people's dependency on rice will be disrupted. This poses a challenge to certain parties. With the current synthetic rice issue, people are really worried. What happens now is that people cannot differentiate between synthetic rice and analog rice,' said Enny.
She said once the synthetic rice issue contaminated the mindset of consumers, it would be difficult for researchers or any parties supporting the development of analog rice to introduce their discovery to the people.
'In such situations, people will just keep it in their minds that analog rice is not 'original' rice. They will not pay attention to whether or not analog rice is suitable and safe for consumption,' said Enny. (ebf)
