Government Has Supplied 10.9 Tonnes of Chillies to Kramat Jati Central Market

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com - The Ministry of Agriculture has supplied 10.9 tonnes of red bird’s eye chillies to the Kramat Jati Central Market (PIKJ) in Jakarta as of Tuesday (24/2/2026).

The Deputy for Food Availability and Stabilisation of the National Food Agency (Bapanas), I Gusti Ketut Astawa, said that the chillies came from the harvest of the Ministry of Agriculture’s Champion Chilli programme from various regions.

Ketut said that, in accordance with the direction of the Head of Bapanas, who is also the Minister of Agriculture, Andi Amran Sulaiman, his party had provided distribution subsidies for up to 7 tonnes of red bird’s eye chillies from production centres to PIKJ, especially using aircraft.

“Therefore, the steps we have taken, as directed by the Head of Bapanas, have resulted in us moving more than 4 tonnes of red bird’s eye chillies to PIKJ so far,” said Ketut in an official statement on Wednesday (25/2/2026).

Ketut detailed that on 19 February, his party was involved in supplying 980 kilograms of red bird’s eye chillies from the Champion Chilli programme in Magelang, Central Java, to PIKJ.

Then, on 20 February, 538 kilograms of red bird’s eye chillies arrived at PIKJ from the Champion Chilli programme in Bandung, West Java.

Then, on 21 February, 1,050 tonnes of red bird’s eye chillies came from the Champion Chilli programme in Enrekang, South Sulawesi; 1.75 tonnes from the Champion Chilli programme in Magelang on 22 February; 1.26 tonnes from the Champion Chilli programme in Magelang and 75 quintals from the Champion Chilli programme in Garut on 23 February.

As much as 2.1 tonnes of supply came from the Champion Chilli programme in Enrekang and 2.5 tonnes from the Champion Chilli programme in Magelang.

The supply is sold to retailers at a price of IDR 60,000 to IDR 65,000 per kilogram, which can help to lower prices in the market.

“We are trying to get these chillies into the central market first, so that hopefully we can control prices because the supply has started to move,” said Ketut.

Furthermore, Ketut explained that in the near future, the price of red bird’s eye chillies will start to stabilise as the intensity of rain decreases.

This condition allows farmers to start harvesting chillies and the supply will increase again.

“Therefore, we hope that in the next few days, the price of chillies will start to fall,” said Ketut.