Prices and Availability of Grocery During Pandemic and Eid are Still Maintained
By: Raavi Ramadhan) *
The outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic can lead to food shortages. However, the government has ensured the availability of safe food until the end of the year.
The Chair of the Covid-19 Task Force for the Acceleration of Handling and the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB), Doni Monardo said that the availability of food throughout Indonesia in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic was still maintained.
The Minister of Agriculture said that there were some stable food and daily necessities that had increased.
President Joko Widodo reminded the Minister of Internal Affairs (Mendag) to keep the governor, mayor, regent, reminded to maintain the availability of food and make estimates for the future.
This was done because the central government was able to ensure there was no shortage of food and prices that remained stable despite the Covid-19 pandemic.
Presid en Jokowi called on all staff to be aware of warnings from the Food and Agriculture (FOA) stating that the Covid-19 pandemic could result in food shortages.
President Joko Widodo asked his staff to maintain the availability of food before the coming of Ramadan and Eid in 1441 H. Moreover, Ramadan and Eid this time were different from previous years because of the corona virus outbreak.
Preparations for the availability of food every time before Ramadan and Eid are always done, but this year is a little different. Jokowi asked his staff to ensure there was no scarcity of food and the price was stable in the market. In fact, Jokowi admitted that he was checking directly into the field, bulog and to areas about what the harvest was like.
Prices of food items such as meat, eggs, rice, flour are still in a stable condition. However, the price of onions and sugar has increased quite significantly since the pandemic.
Jokowi said that maybe in the coming weeks the price of sugar will go down to normal conditions again with a price of around Rp. 12,500. The Minister of Home Affairs (Minister of Trade) told him that some of the imported onions had reached Indonesia and that prices could return to normal around Rp. 20,000-30,000 .
The Minister of Trade, Agus Suparmanto also said that the availability of food in the country was safe, including before Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr. In the next six months starting from March to August 2020, the projected availability of food for 11 commodities will certainly be safe.
This statement was confirmed by a review of PT Sentra Usaha Tamajaya’s refined sugar factory in Cilegon, Banten that Agus guaranteed food stocks and prices to be safe in accordance with the President’s instructions.
Rice availability in February and estimated production in March-May reached 15.9 million tons. Estimated demand for the same period is around 7.6 million tons or 2.53 million tons every month. That way, the remaining availability of rice stocks reaches 8.3 million tons. This amount is sufficient to meet food needs for June to early September 2020.
The description of other food needs such as onion, cayenne pepper, large chili, garlic, chicken eggs, purebred chicken meat, cooking oil and granulated sugar is guaranteed to be safe during the March-May 2020 period.
The picture is certainly good news for the community. Considering that Covid-19 has begun to spread to eating areas, the fulfillment of local food production needs to be increased.
The government will continue to ensure and maintain food availability in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic while the community also lives with concern and patience. All will pass and along with that the situation will return to normal.
) * The writer is a Pakuan Bogor University Student
