Analyst: Government Successfully Stabilises Food Supply Through Daily Monitoring

Jakarta (ANTARA) - An agricultural observer from Bogor Agricultural Institute (IPB), Prima Gandhi, said the government had succeeded in maintaining food stability during Ramadan 2026 through data-based interventions and daily monitoring that effectively dampened price volatility. ‘Data-based intervention policies and daily monitoring are considered effective in dampening price volatility amid rising consumer demand,’ Prima said in a statement in Jakarta on Wednesday. He said the success in maintaining food stability is the result of collaborative work across the government—from the National Food Agency (Bapanas), the Ministry of Agriculture (Kementan), the Ministry of Home Affairs (Kemendagri), the Ministry of Trade (Kemendag), the Police (Polri), to provincial and regency/city governments. He applauded the government’s supply and price stabilisation efforts through Bapanas, which have kept inflation in check during Ramadan 2026, despite rising consumer demand. Prima noted that the volatile food group has indeed risen by 2.50 percent month-on-month, contributing 0.41 percentage points to monthly inflation. However, on an annual basis it stood at 4.64 percent. He said this remains within a range that can be managed through strengthened supply and distribution. ‘The rise in food prices is relatively well contained. In other words, food is not a major contributor to inflation,’ he said. He added that most strategic commodities such as rice, chili, onions, meat, eggs, and cooking oil contributed less than 1 percent to February’s inflation compared with the previous month. Price fluctuations remained within the range of the Highest Retail Price (HET) and the Price Reference (HAP) set by the government. BPS also confirmed that food price fluctuations remained relatively safe. ‘What we need to understand together about February 2026 inflation is that, as we can see, both volatile food prices and overall food prices year on year remain relatively safe,’ said BPS head Adininggar Widyasanti at the Ministry of Home Affairs, Jakarta. ‘Of course, some commodities in certain districts and cities require attention, especially hot chili (bird’s eye chili), table eggs, and broiler chicken meat,’ added Adininggar. Meanwhile, Indra Wijayanto, Director of Food Availability at Bapanas, said that throughout February 2026, Bapanas intensified various food stabilisation programs, including the Gerakan Pangan Murah (GPM). These activities have been carried out 1,586 times in 291 regencies/cities across 33 provinces, an increase of 116.9 percent compared to the same period last year. Through the Food Distribution Facilitation (FDP) programme, almost 10 tonnes of bird’s-eye chili were mobilised to Jakarta and West Nusa Tenggara, including 4.3 tonnes from South Sulawesi whose distribution costs were funded by the government. The move was taken to respond to price dynamics in various regions. For rice, distribution under the Stabilisation of Supply and Price of Food (SPHP) programme for 2025 by Perum Bulog reached 1.025 million tonnes by the end of February 2026, with February’s realisation at 136,000 tonnes. In 2026, the SPHP rice programme will continue and is targeted to reach 828,000 tonnes, accompanied by SPHP for animal feed maize of 242,000 tonnes to help maintain price stability in the poultry sector. Ahead of Eid al-Fitr 2026, the government also distributed staple food rice and cooking oil to 33.2 million beneficiary families as part of a stimulus to protect household purchasing power. In addition to distribution interventions, supply chain oversight was reinforced through the Food Fraud Eradication Task Force, which has monitored 28,270 points across Indonesia, from producers to agents, distributors, wholesalers, and retailers.