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Govt sets new food-reserves rules, potentially hurts Bapanas authority
The government has just added two commodities to the list of staple food commodities and assigned additional roles to the State Logistics Agency (Bulog) to help stabilize domestic supplies, but experts warn that challenges in dealing with the food-reserves supply chain would remain.
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Vendors wait for customers at a traditional market in Tangerang, Banten, on April 3. (AFP/Adek Berry)
T
he government has just added two commodities to the list of staple food commodities and assigned additional roles to the State Logistics Agency (Bulog) to help stabilize domestic supplies, but experts warn that challenges in dealing with the food reserves supply chain would remain.
Presidential Regulation No.125/2022 on government food reserves stipulates, among other things, adding two items -- fish and cooking oil -- to the nine staple-food commodities list set in Presidential Regulation No. 66/2021 on National Food Agency (Bapanas).
Meanwhile, Bulog and/or the state-owned staple food holding company will be responsible to distribute corn and soybeans when the market price exceeds the retail price ceiling (HET).
Ali Usman, chairman of the Center for Agricultural Food Studies and Advocacy (Pataka), told The Jakarta Post that Bapanas would need to immediately design technical rules to regulate procurement, management and distribution, saying that the agency must have adequate data analysis to determine the exact amount of staple food for each phase in supply chain movement, in order to reach the captive market.
“[Bapanas] needs to ensure the food reserve supply chain does not disrupt private as well as small and medium businesses,” Ali said on Monday.
He went on to say that, while managing rice reserves was relatively easy, corn and soybeans would present a new challenge for Bapanas considering inadequate supply and demand data on both commodities.
Mokhamad Suyamto, Bulog’s director of supply chain and public services, said in a statement issued on Oct. 28 that the new regulation needs derivative measures to serve as the operational basis for Bulog.
