”Food estate” atau lumbung pangan di Sumba Tengah, NTT, dilanda kekeringan. Program itu hanya berjalan musim tanam pertama. Petani kesulitan alat mesin dan pertanian, air irigasi, dan lainnya.

State-owned electricity company PLN has guaranteed a sufficient supply of electric power for Idul Fitri needs. Likewise the supply of fuel as consumption is predicted to rise.

At national scale calculations, beef production is said to have not been able to meet domestic demand, while in fact there are 18 regions that have an oversupply of meat. Some of them even strictly prohibit imports.

Indirect import policies are even more beneficial for the upper middle class. The government's step to import beef only becomes a short-term solution in overcoming stock problems and beef prices.

President Jokowi promised that the government would try to even out the prices so that the farm-level price for unhulled rice was good and fair enough. The price of rice at the level of traders should be reasonable too.

The government must take immediate and extraordinary measures to save our food and strive to fulfill the farmers' wishes. Hopefully the slogan, "Let's make farmers prosperous" is not merely empty jargon.

There are always issues related to food, from its provision to diet, but food safety is an issue that must be urgently addressed.

It is necessary to prepare an adequate budget both to maintain food production and to intervene in the market. The fiscal burden of managing food inflation may increase but the positive effect will be significant.