The Agriculture Ministry has requested the Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs and the Trade Ministry to optimize the utilization of domestic food products to reduce dependence on imported products.
“In times of crisis, (the demand for) domestic food is very high. Cassava exports have increased thrice, meaning that the demand for local food products is very high than that of imports,” the ministry’s Director General of Food Crops Suwandi stated during a webinar titled “Digitalization as a Means of Preventing Corruption, Preventing Commodity Corruption and Optimizing Non-Tax State Revenue (PNBP),” here on Wednesday.
Suwandi said that import and exports are the parameters for farmers to make decisions in farming. Hence, he stated that the government should give due consideration to domestic production and its substitution in implementing the import plan.
“Imports are allowed if there are no domestic (supplies), such as wheat, that we do not plant. However, as long as it can be substituted by cassava, sorghum flour, and sago flour, we (should) substitute,” he stated.
The director general also noted that in the event of a deficit in the financial balance sheet, policymakers should not hurriedly make a decision to import but should intensify domestic production instead.
“If the financial balance sheet is in surplus, (then policymakers can conduct) exports. If it is a deficit, (then they should not) import, but intensify domestic production, and imports are restricted,” Suwandi remarked.
Furthermore, Suwandi stated that in an effort to prevent corruption in the National System of Commodity Balance Sheets (SNANK) app, which issues export and import licensing, stakeholders should be able to improve digitalization as needed.
He also suggested that the Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs and the Trade Ministry classify and detail the types of rice that can be imported through the SNANK application.
Source: Antara News