"The government's efforts in maintaining inflation can be seen in food availability, one of which is, of course, by using a social safety net that can be budgeted for in the regions," Hartarto noted during an online press conference in Jakarta, Friday.
The minister ensured that rice stocks are safe until the end of the year, and it is estimated that there will be seven million tons of rice by the end of 2022.
“The production of corn, with a moisture content of 14 percent, can reach 18 million tons, so this year, we relatively do not import corn for animal feed. The need for feed is estimated to reach around 14 million tons," he remarked.
The government, in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture, is also intensifying corn production that is expected to increase to 12 to 13 tons per hectare, from five to six tons per hectare with the development of nurseries.
"With the same land area, we can double the production. These are steps to maintain food inflation," Hartarto remarked.
Other imported commodities, such as meat, sugar, and soybeans, are also ensured to be sufficient owing to no shipping problems being encountered.
"Regarding wheat, we need 11.8 million tons, and almost all industries have ensured their supply during the period from September to October 2022," he stated.
The minister said that the government was also conducting wheat diversification by developing prototypes of sorghum and cassava to produce flour similar to wheat.
"Yesterday, we have just discussed the development of sorghum in the form of a prototype in the Waingapu area, East Nusa Tenggara," he revealed.
In July 2022, the government had recorded inflation reaching 4.94 percent year on year.
Inflation in the food, beverage, and tobacco expenditure group reached 9.35 percent on an annual basis at the same time or contributed to the inflation of up to 0.31 percent.
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Translator: Sanya Dinda S, Resinta S
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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