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Government to buy all paddy produced by farmers: Minister
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Farmers carry unhusked rice they will mill at a milling factory in Ngawi, East Java. (Antara/Ari Bowo Sucipto)
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griculture Minister Andi Amran Sulaiman has stressed that the government would buy all unhusked rice produced by farmers from all over the country to ensure that paddy prices would not fall lower than the government price floor (HPP) of Rp 3,700 (28 US cents) per kilogram.
“We have issued a ministerial regulation stipulating that the price of unhusked rice with a water content between 25 percent and 30 percent is Rp 3,700 per kilogram,” said Amran when attending the “great harvest” event in Lamongan regency, East Java, on Wednesday as reported by kompas.com.
He referred to Agriculture Ministerial Regulation No 3/2017 on the guidance for purchasing farmers unhusked rice, which is a supporting regulation for Presidential Regulation No 20/2017 on the requirement to purchase farmers’ unhusked rice.
If the farmers cannot sell their unhusked rice to traders, the government, through the National Logistics Agency (Bulog), will buy all remaining unhusked rice, the minister said.
“The move is part of the government’s effort to protect farmers so that they get good prices during the harvest season,” he added.
“Bulog has to buy unhusked rice with the price of Rp 3,700 per kilogram without negotiation. We don’t want to let the speculators play with the prices. That will end up causing farmers to suffer losses,” Amran said. (bbn).
