"We have more than seven thousand tons of rice, sufficient for (catering to the) market demand (in the provinces) for up to six months," Bulog Maluku regional office Public Service Division Head Hamdani stated here Saturday.
Hamdani detailed that five thousand tons of rice were stored in three Bulog warehouses in Maluku's Ambon, Tual, and Saumlaki cities, while another two thousand tons were stored in a Bulog warehouse in North Maluku's Ternate City.
Hamdani urged the residents of Maluku and North Maluku to not harbor concerns, as their rice needs were already guaranteed to be fulfilled despite extreme weather that may affect the rice harvest and the impact of declining rice supply on local markets.
The Bulog regional division in Maluku also continues to conduct market operations to help stabilize the market price of rice in local markets by selling the commodity for Rp10 thousand (around US$0.6) per kilogram.
Hamdani revealed that in the event of the provinces' rice stocks being insufficient until the end of the year, new supplies could be procured from rice-producing regions, such as South Sulawesi and East Java.
"I urge Maluku’s residents to not be nervous (regarding rice supply) despite bad weather owing to the rainy season (we currently faced). If rice stocks in Maluku warehouses are insufficient, we are ready to provide new supplies from Makassar or East Java. We cannot allow our warehouse to be empty," Hamdani affirmed.
Apart from rice stocks, Bulog’s warehouses in Maluku also store adequate quantities of sugar, cooking oil, and flour. Some 124,154 kilograms of sugar are available at the warehouse in Ambon and 78,650 kilograms are stored at the warehouse in Ternate. The Ambon warehouse also stored 18 thousand liters of cooking oil and 16,882 kilograms of flour.
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Translator: John Soplanit, Nabil Ihsan
Editor: Suharto
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