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House speaker urges government to consolidate rice data
House of Representatives Speaker Bambang Soesatyo has called on the government to improve its data on rice stocks, following different statements from government officials on whether the country needed to import rice or not.
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House of Representatives Speaker Bambang Soesatyo (second left) and Agriculture Minister Amran Sulaiman (second right) appear in a group photograph marking a rice harvest on Jan. 29 in Banyuasin, South Sumatra. (tribunnews.com/File)
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ouse of Representatives Speaker Bambang Soesatyo has called on the government to consolidate its data on rice stocks, following different statements from government officials on whether the country needed to import rice or not.
Bambang questioned the persistently high price of rice, even though the government imported 500,000 tons of rice earlier this year and would soon import another 500,000 tons of the commodity.
“Logically, when the imported rice arrives, the price should be pressured,” Bambang said on Monday in Jakarta as quoted by kompas.com.
Earlier, in response to the government's plan to import rice, Agriculture Minister Amran Sulaiman said the nations rice production was adequate to meet domestic needs. “We have prepared 20 to 30 percent higher stocks than stocks in other months,” Amran said on Monday.
Last week, the Trade Ministry's international trade director general Oke Nurwan announced the plan to import another 500,000 tons of rice. He added that the decision to issue an import permit was made during a meeting at the Office of the Coordinating Economic Minister.
Bambang said Indonesia needed accurate, consolidated food data to avoid controversial policies.
“Indonesia has no valid food data that can be a reference for all stakeholders. This makes government institutions like the Agriculture Ministry, the Trade Ministry and the State Logistics Agency use their respective data,” he added, noting that these institutions all had different data.
He called on President Joko Widodo to summon the related ministers and officials to end the controversial statements they had made about the government's policies. (bbn)
