Food Policy Urgency

Kompas/Raditya Helabumi

Workers unload and stack sacks of rice from a delivery truck on Friday (5/1) at the Bulog warehouse in North Jakarta, which serves Jakarta and Banten. The disrupted supply chain from a number of rice production centers has contributed to a recent increase in rice price. Throughout 2017, Bulog absorbed 2.16 million tons of rice, or 58 percent of its 3.74-ton target.

The rice market operation, which has been running since December 2017, has not made any real impact on curbing prices. The food policy must be reevaluated.

The government has strived hard to control rice prices since Independence. Besides its connection to national inflation, the prices of basic commodities are also political commodities themselves, namely a success indicator of providing enough food to the people. Rice is still one of the most vital expenditures for middle- and lower income families.