The Indonesian government has set itself the target of exporting 100 thousand tons of rice to 10 Asian and European countries as part of efforts to increase farm commodity exports this year, an official said.
The Director General of Agricultural Infrastructure and Facilities of the Agriculture Ministry, Sumarjo Gatot Irianto, said that the 10 destinations to which Indonesian rice would be exported include Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei Darussalam.
“We plan to export organic rice to Germany,” he said.
Therefore, the government will make every effort to procure as much rice as possible this year to meet the demand for rice, he said.
“We have not set any target for procuring rice. What is important is that we must be able to procure as much rice as possible so that we can export the surplus,” he said.
Above all, the national logistics board (Bulog) must be able to control rice prices at the farmer level by procuring the staple food. This will enable the government-set purchase prices to kick in, he said.
“If the price of unhusked rice at the farmer level falls, the government will be obliged to buy the rice soon to maintain the rice prices,” he said.