Indonesia’s Deputy Minister Stresses Balanced Food Prices to Protect Farmers and Consumers

Jakarta, The Gulf Observer: Indonesia’s Deputy Agriculture Minister Sudaryono has underscored the need to maintain balanced food prices to ensure both farmers and livestock breeders earn fair profits while consumers are not burdened with rising costs of essential goods.

“Farmers as producers, as well as livestock breeders, must prosper, while consumers should not be weighed down by soaring prices of basic goods. That is the essence,” Sudaryono said after opening the National Seminar of Agricultural Students, organized by the Indonesian Association of Agricultural Socio-Economics Student Organizations (Popmasepi), in Jakarta on Wednesday.

He emphasized that food prices should remain within a reasonable corridor, neither too high nor too low, with government intervention playing a key role in market stabilization. The government purchasing price (HPP) for commodities such as rice and corn, he noted, protects farmers from losses, while the highest retail price (HET) mechanism ensures affordability for consumers.

“If prices fall too low, they should not stay low for long. Prices must remain within the corridor that has been set,” he explained, adding that benchmarks for rice and corn are crucial to safeguarding farmers’ welfare, while the HET protects consumers.

To address price spikes, Sudaryono pointed to the State Logistics Agency’s (Bulog) Stabilization of Food Supply and Prices (SPHP) program, which helps maintain rice affordability. He stressed that food price stability reflects the principle of “live and let live,” ensuring producers enjoy a decent livelihood while consumers access food at prices aligned with their income levels.

According to the National Food Agency’s Price Panel, as of Wednesday night in Jakarta, consumer-level prices of premium rice stood at Rp16,031 per kilogram, slightly down from Rp16,037, while medium rice fell to Rp13,905 per kilogram from Rp13,918.