By: Gavin Asadit )*
Ahead of the 2025 Christmas and New Year celebrations, the government ensures that food stocks throughout Indonesia are in a safe condition. This step was taken to maintain the stability of staple food prices amidst the surge in demand that usually occurs at the end of the year. The National Food Agency (Bapanas), together with various related agencies, have prepared a series of strategies to ensure sufficient food availability for the community.
The Head of the National Food Agency (Bapanas), Arief Prasetyo Adi, said that currently Indonesia has sufficient rice reserves, which are around 1.5 million tons stored in Bulog warehouses. This stock will certainly continue to be strengthened through rice imports and local harvests that will soon enter the market. The maintenance of rice stocks ahead of the 2024 Nataru holiday was also conveyed by the Coordinating Minister for Food, Zulkifli Hasan, who said that the government’s rice reserve stock ahead of Christmas and New Year 2025 is around 2 million tons in Bulog warehouses and in the community around 8 million tons and prices are still under control.
Furthermore, the government also ensures the availability of other basic necessities, such as cooking oil, sugar, eggs, and meat. Cheap market operations have begun to be held in various regions as a step to distribute food evenly, while keeping prices affordable for the community.
One of the cheap market operations carried out by the government through the National Food Agency by directly reviewing the stock of rice and other foods and reviewing food prices to remain under control. This is one of the things done by Deputy I for Food Availability and Stability I Bapanas, Gusti Ketut Astawa who has conducted direct monitoring in one of the traditional markets in Semarang, Central Java, with the results of rice and cooking oil still sufficient. This was also said by the Head of the Perum BULOG Regional Office of Central Java, Sopran Kenedi who said that up to the next 5 months the rice stock is still sufficient.
To ensure equitable food availability, the government has collaborated with various parties, from Perum Bulog, business actors, to distributors of basic necessities. One of the strategic steps taken is to strengthen the government’s food reserve stock (CPP). This stock will be used to meet urgent needs, especially in areas that are potentially experiencing supply shortages.
In addition, the government is also accelerating the distribution of logistics to remote and disaster-prone areas. This step is important to ensure that all people, especially those living in remote areas, can feel the benefits of price and supply stabilization policies. This is in accordance with the statement of the Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs, Airlangga Hartarto, who said that the government will continue to be present in an effort to maintain the needs of the community, especially ahead of the 2024 Christmas and New Year holidays to the 3T region.
Furthermore, senior economist Chatib Basri also gave a positive response to this policy. He emphasized the importance of food stability as one of the main factors in maintaining people’s purchasing power. The success of maintaining food availability during Christmas and New Year is not only about supply, but also controlling inflation so that this step gives people confidence in the government.
Although food stocks are safe, the government continues to warn of potential price increases due to spikes in demand. Head of Bapanas, Arief Prasetyo Adi, said that this increase usually occurs in certain commodities, such as beef, chilies, and shallots. To anticipate this, the government has prepared mitigation measures in the form of market operations and distribution control. In addition, the government also asked the public to be wise in shopping during the Nataru holidays.
The government is not only focusing on food stability during the Christmas and New Year holidays, but also designing long-term strategies to ensure national food security. One of the programs being developed is increasing local production by providing incentives to farmers. The government is also committed to improving the national logistics system so that food distribution is more efficient and equitable.
The government is also trying to control food prices to keep them stable. Based on data from the National Food Agency, the prices of several strategic commodities tend to increase towards the end of the year due to increasing demand. For this reason, market operations will continue to be carried out to suppress unreasonable price increases. The government is also working with business actors and distributors to ensure that the supply chain runs smoothly.
With various strategic steps that have been taken, the government is committed to maintaining food stability during the 2025 Christmas and New Year holidays. Starting from strengthening reserve stocks, cheap market operations, to increasing local production, all of these efforts are designed to protect the public from the impact of price spikes and meet the needs of the community during the Christmas and New Year holidays. The government is optimistic that the community’s food needs during Nataru 2025 can be met properly. Stability of food stocks and prices is a top priority in order to maintain the comfort and welfare of the community in celebrating the end of the year.
)* The author is an observer of social and community issues
