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RI's rice reserve not sufficient to weather El Niño next year
Authorities and experts assure that the Indonesian rice reserve will last until the end of the year despite potential global inflation resulting from India’s export bans and El Niño, the latter of which will affect next year’s stock.
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A farmer plows rice fields with the help of two buffaloes on Nov. 2, 2020, near a rest area of the Bawean-Salatiga toll road in Central Java. Ahead of the rainy season, farmers have begun preparing for the next crop of rice. JP/PJ Leo (JP/P.J. Leo)
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ndonesia may face challenges in keeping a sufficient rice supply next year as the country struggles to maintain stocks because of challenges caused by El Niño and export curbs from other rice-producing countries.
The United Nation’s World Meteorological Organization declared El Niño was already under way with a 90-percent chance that it would continue during the second half of this year. Consequentially, the hot, dry weather that El Niño causes is expected to threaten food production across Asia.
Meanwhile, Indonesia’s Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) forecasts that El Niño will peak in August and September, with weak to moderate intensity in the country.
“God willing, our rice stock will not be affected,” National Food Agency (NFA) head Arief Prasetyo Adi told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.
Read also: UN warns world to prepare for El Nino impact
He mentioned that President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has instructed related ministries and the NFA to plan early to brace for the peak of El Niño.
The government has decided to import up to 2 million tonnes of rice this year to increase the government rice reserves (CBP). The State Logistics Agency (Bulog) said on July 19 it only held around 750,000 tonnes in reserves, far below the safe threshold of 1.2 million tonnes.
