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Rice price to be main driver of poverty in 2016
Late season: A farmer ploughs his rice field in Wongkaditi, Gorontalo, on Wednesday
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Late season: A farmer ploughs his rice field in Wongkaditi, Gorontalo, on Wednesday. Due to the late arrival of the rainy season, farmers in Gorontalo have only just begun to plant rice in their fields. Earlier in 2015, farmers suffered through a long drought. (JP/Syamsul Huda M. Suhari) (JP/Syamsul Huda M. Suhari)
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span class="inline inline-center">Late season: A farmer ploughs his rice field in Wongkaditi, Gorontalo, on Wednesday. Due to the late arrival of the rainy season, farmers in Gorontalo have only just begun to plant rice in their fields. Earlier in 2015, farmers suffered through a long drought. (JP/Syamsul Huda M. Suhari)
The price of rice, one of the nation's staple foods--especially for the poor, continued to rise in 2015 according to Central Statistics Agency (BPS) statistics.
The latest BPS data shows that the rice price rose 7.2 percent in 2015, continuing the upward trend in 2014 of 12 percent.
Quoting the latest results of the National Social Economy Survey (Susenas), BPS Head Suryamin said that 22.1 percent of rice in urban areas and 28.74 percent in rural areas was consumed by the poor.
However, the purchasing power of farmers remained relatively unchanged. Based on BPS data, the farmer's exchange rate only rose 1.5 percent, from 101.32 in 2014 to 102.83 in 2015, far below the rice price increase of 7.21 percent.
Economist Faisal Basri in an online analysis warned about the risk of an increasing amount of people living in poverty as the rice price had soared above the rate of inflation while the international price was down.
"Such a rise would hit the poor as one third of their outcome is spent on rice," he said.
According to World Bank data, as of November 2015 the global rice price decreased by 5.7 percent year-on-year compared to Nov. 2014, continuing the previous decline of 1.96 percent compared to November 2013.
In November 2015, Thai white rice stood at Rp 4,897,433 per metric ton, while Indonesian white rice, considered to be of a similar quality, was priced at Rp 9,564,26, almost two times higher.
Cigarettes
Ironically, cigarettes were the second-highest consumption item among the poor.
The 2015 Susenas showed that cigarette consumption among the poor stood at 8.1 percent in urban areas and 7.68 percent in rural areas.
Suryamin expressed his regrets that the poor were spending such a large amount of money on an item that did not provide sustenance.
The BPS statistics showed that the rate of poverty in the nation has not been significantly reduced in recent years, with the percent of the population classified as 'poor' remaining at 11 percent over the last three years. (ags)
