Cows, buffaloes brought to Jakarta for festival
Cows, buffaloes brought to Jakarta for festival
JAKARTA (JP): The city administration has brought in about 53,000 cows and water buffaloes to fulfill the public demand for meat in the city during the Moslem fasting month of Ramadhan.
Head of the City Husbandry Office Soemitro said most of the cattle were from Bali, East and West Nusa Tenggara as well as other provinces in Java.
Demand will peak three days before Idul Fitri, after which time 4,000 cows will be slaughtered every day.
"Usually about 800 cows and buffaloes are slaughtered to fulfill daily demand, which has now reached 1,600 cows, or 200 tons of meat per day," Soemitro told Antara Thursday.
The city administration, through the city-owned PD Dharma Jaya cattle company, will also supply about 951.5 tons of frozen meat, of which 299 tons is imported.
Soemitro also said the office will increase its operation to curb illegal slaughter houses in the city to prevent the sale of poor quality meat.
"The office will take firm action against owners of illegal slaughter houses," Soemitro said.
In the meantime, the city logistics agency has implemented a market operation in a bid to control prices of nine prime commodities during Ramadhan.
The office supplies about 2,000 tons rice per day to eight markets: Klender, Kramatjati, Senen, Tanah Abang, Anyar Bahari, Tomang, Pasar Minggu and Kebayoran Lama.
The price of rice has increased from Rp 984 per kg, at the end of January, to Rp 1,040 per kg over the past two weeks. The logistics agency stated that the raise was caused by limited supply.
Traders in Cipinang market confirmed the statement by saying that the supplies from Solo and Semarang in Central Java have been decreasing.
The office also reported that stocks of cooking oil, flour and sugar in the city are adequate to fulfill the demand and the prices are relatively stable.
The prices of cooking oil, Rp 1,500 per bottle, and flour, Rp 816 per kg have been stable four the last four weeks while the price of sugar has increased from Rp 1,344 per kg in January to Rp 1,350 this month.
Sugar and flour demands in the city are 32,000 tons per month and as a precaution, the logistics board will supply an additional 24,000 tons of sugar and flour.
The agency reported that the stock of chicken is enough, about 1.5 million chickens, to cover the 300-per-day demand. However, the price of chicken has increased from Rp 4,385 per kg in January to Rp 4,486 this month.(yns)