Agricom.id, JAKARTA – Minister of Agriculture, Syahrul Yasin Limpo (SYL) said that there is no different data of food stocks between ministry of agriculture and data which the President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) had. He told that in the meeting with Commission IV, Indonesian Legislators through video conference in the Agriculture War Room (AWR), Ministry of Agriculture, Monday (4/5/2002).

"One thing for sure, the data is validated. The data which President and I have is the same. It derived from central bureau of statistic (CBS),” he said, as in the official statement to Agricom.id.

In the meeting, SYL also emphasized that ministry of agriculture reported some provinces, where they are in food deficit as what president told in the meeting with the cabinet.

“The point and spirit from what President Jokowi told about it are the warning for everyone who involves in the distribution and transportation,” he said.

He thought that in the meeting President Jokowi instructed every side to help and there would be no issue to distribute the food when the big scale social distancing or pembatasan sosial berskala besar implements.

In the previous, Director of Food Plantation, Horticulture, and Plantation Statistic, Central Bureau of Statistic, Kadarmanto said that the data was the monthly data in CBS which Badan Ketahanan Pangan (BKP), Ministry of Agriculture used too.

“To calculate the surplus and deficit is influenced by some things, namely the needs and the consumption. CBS itself just calculates the surplus/deficit of production, which is, the total production minus the total consumption/needs,” he said.

The data stock and food estimation which Badan Ketahanan Pangan (BKP) published showed that some main daily foods in April to June 2020 are enough and in control.

The rice by June 2020 would be 6,4 million tons, corn would be 1,01 million tons, sugar would be 1,07 million tons, and cooking oil would be 5,7 million tons.

The member of Commission IV, Indonesian Legislators from South Sulawesi, Andi Akmal Pasluddin told that it needs to support ministry of agriculture in its position and functions to be responsible on the upstream production.

“For all these days, the price and absorption were the farmers’ issues. In the future it is hoped that there would be synergy among the ministry of agriculture, Bulog, and ministry of trade,” he said.

SYL also mentioned that his side keeps doing synergy and collaboration with others to maintain the availability and distribution of 11 main daily foods. (A2)