Jakarta – President Prabowo’s government ensures that the availability and price stability of staple foods during the 2024 Christmas and 2025 New Year (Nataru) celebrations are safe and under control. This step is a follow-up to the Coordination Meeting for Securing National Religious Holidays (HBKN) held by the National Food Agency (Bapanas) this week. President Prabowo Subianto emphasized the importance of cross-sector collaboration to maintain public welfare amidst the momentum of the big celebration.
The Head of Bapanas, Arief Prasetyo Adi, said that the prices and stocks of strategic staple foods are currently in adequate and reasonable conditions. This is proven by the results of direct inspections to traditional markets.
“Today together we checked directly at the market. Overall, the food conditions are very good,” said Arief. Based on monitoring, several main commodities such as beef hind leg are sold at IDR 130,000 per kilogram, front leg IDR 120,000 per kilogram, garlic IDR 42,000 per kilogram, curly red chilies IDR 35,000 per kilogram, and green chilies IDR 42,000 per kilogram. Meanwhile, the price of Bulog SPHP (Stabilization of Food Supply and Price) rice is sold at IDR 12,000 per kilogram or IDR 60,000 per sack.
Arief also highlighted the stability of egg prices, which are currently in the range of IDR 24,000 to IDR 26,000 per kilogram. “This is a good price, because the feed for laying hens has been maintained. Bulog has a corn stock of around 90 thousand tons, so the price at the layer farmer level is very good. The price that is formed now is a reasonable price and must be maintained to support farmers and livestock breeders, while ensuring affordability for the community,” he explained.
As a concrete step, the government has implemented the SPHP feed corn program since November 2023. To date, 303 thousand tons of feed corn at a price of IDR 5,000 per kilogram have been distributed to independent farmers. This program aims to help farmers face difficulties due to declining corn production.
In addition, the food assistance program for handling stunting involving ID Food has successfully reached 8,778 farmers, consisting of 6,895 laying hen farmers and 1,883 broiler chicken farmers. This program has shown a positive impact on cross-sector economic growth in the food ecosystem.
“As directed by President Prabowo, we must be with farmers and breeders. However, fair prices for the community must also be guaranteed. The current rice stock at Bulog is the best, reaching 2 million tons. We are ready to anticipate the potential increase in demand ahead of Nataru and early 2025,” said Arief.
The government is optimistic that these strategic steps will ensure the stability of food stocks and prices, creating a sense of security for the community in welcoming religious holidays and the new year.(*)
