"This year Bulog receives commercial bank credits totaling Rp30-35 trillion and nearly Rp30 trillion of the funds will be used to buy domestic rice," Alimoeso said.Jakarta (ANTARA News) - National Logistics Agency (Bulog) is setting aside Rp30 trillion in funds to buy rice and unhulled rice from local farmers this year.
The funds originated from commercial bank credits, Bulog President Director Sutarto Alimoeso said here on Tuesday.
"This year Bulog receives commercial bank credits totaling Rp30-35 trillion and nearly Rp30 trillion of the funds will be used to buy domestic rice," he said.
Last year, Bulog bought 1.81 million tons of domestic rice, down from 1.89 million tons in 2010, Sutarto said.
The purchase of domestic rice in 2011 accounted for 4.43 percent of the country`s rice output which reached 41.02 million tons or 65.35 million tons of unhusked rice, he said.
In 2010 Bulog bought 1.89 million tons of domestic rice, representing 4.55 percent of the national rice production which reached 41.70 million tons or 66.46 million tons of dry unhusked rice.
Sutarto, one-time director general of food crops at the agriculture ministry said the rice was bought based on the government-set base purchase price.
The agency also bought 36,938 tons of rice in 2010 and 384,973 tons of rice in 2011 based on market price, he said.
He said the agency had set itself the target of buying 400,000 tons of domestic rice on a commercial basis this year.
To optimize the purchase of domestic rice in 2012, he said Bulog would adopt a number of strategies including establishing close cooperation with farmers.(*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2012
