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Agriculture Ministry says its data on rice production valid
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A worker carries a sack of rice in a warehouse at a Cipinang wholesale rice market in East Jakarta. (Antara/Sigid Kurniawan)
T
he Agriculture Ministry has said that its data on rice production is valid despite it being different than the data issued by Statistics Indonesia (BPS).
The ministry's director of grains, Bambang Sugiharto, questioned the data issued by the BPS. “It would be illogical if the surplus was calculated from the rice at warehouses of the State Logistics Agency (Bulog) and from [rice] in households,” he said as quoted by kompas.com.
The BPS announced on Wednesday that this year's rice production was estimated at 32.42 million tons, while household spending was at 29.57 million tons, putting the surplus at 2.85 million tons.
According to the ministry, however, this year's rice surplus was at 13.03 million tons, with total rice production estimated at 46.5 million tons and spending at 33.47 million tons.
President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo previously said the government had referred to BPS data that was based on a survey carried out by the BPS, the Geospatial Information Agency (BIG), the National Institute of Aeronautics and Space (Lapan) and the Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT).
Bambang said Bulog reportedly had 1.5 million tons of rice in stock and 150,000 tons of rice reserves, 700,000 tons of which had been distributed for social assistance, market operations and survivors of natural disasters.
Given the information, he added, the amount of rice in households would be 1.9 million tons, or about 19 kilograms per household per year, which was unlikely because, based on a 2015 BPS survey, each household stocked bout 7.5 kg of rice per month, or about 90 kg per year. (bbn)
