1Berita News – President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) denies rice scarcity. He made the statement while inviting journalists to visit the Cipinang Wholesale Market in Jakarta to see the rice stock.
Jokowi claims that rice is abundant. He ensures that the news of rice disappearance from retail stores is not true.
“I want to make sure that the rice available here is indeed available, the quantity is sufficient, and I see it abundantly,” said Jokowi after inspecting the Cipinang Wholesale Market in Jakarta, on Thursday (15/2).
Jokowi admits that there are indeed distribution problems of rice to several regions. This is because the rice produced has not yet reached the market. There are also reasons such as disasters like the flood in Demak.
In response to this, Jokowi instructed his subordinates to expedite the distribution of rice. He guarantees that rice prices will decrease within two weeks.
“Today we see abundance, it’s just distribution to retail markets, all markets in the regions,” he said.
Traders and buyers previously protested because rice prices skyrocketed. Premium rice also began to become scarce in retail stores.
The Secretary General of the Indonesian Market Traders Association (IKAPPI), Reynaldi Sarijowan, admitted difficulty in obtaining medium and premium rice.
Reynaldi mentioned that the price of premium rice reached Rp18,500 per kilogram. He believes that this happened because the government did not seriously address the rice scarcity issue.
“Yes (the price of premium rice Rp18,500 per kg is the highest in the era of President Jokowi)… Be careful if traditional markets don’t have abundant rice stocks, it will certainly disrupt the distribution of people’s food in the market,” Reynaldi told CNNIndonesia, on Tuesday (13/2).
