Yuli Tri Suwarni and Oyos Saroso H.N., Bandung/Bandarlampung – Members of the West Java Legislative Council charged on Friday rice was being hoarded at production centers in West Java, including the provincial capital Bandung, amid public outcries over the scarcity of the staple food.
Meanwhile, in Bandarlampung, rice shortages have forced local residents to replace rice with dried cassava for their daily meals.
Councillors in West Java discovered rice was being hoarded in warehouses when they made impromptu visits to a number of major cities, including Cirebon, Indramayu, Karawang, Subang, Cianjur, Sukabumi and Bogor.
Maman Abdurachman, one of the councillors, said most of the rice was owned by businesspeople and wholesalers, who were hoarding stocks to push prices up so they could sell the rice at higher prices.
The finding proved suspicions that traders were hoarding rice after a number of cities throughout the country had experienced rice shortages, pushing up prices by about 25 percent.
"However, it is still difficult to say whether they are speculating on the rice market, because when the State Logistics Agency (Bulog) wants to buy rice they are willing to sell," Maman said.
Maman said he found a trader in Cirebon who had a stock of 2,000 tons or rice, of which 35 tons were transported daily to Cipinang market in Jakarta.
Traders in other cities – Indramayu, Karawang, Subang, Cianjur, Sukabumi and Bogor – were holding up to 800,000 tons of rice, he said.
"Bulog should have procured the rice, but it set the price at only Rp 3,800 (40 US cents) per kilogram, far below the market price of Rp 4,200 to Rp 4,500," he added.
Meanwhile, subsistence farmers in Bandarlampung have been forced to switch from eating rice to snacks made of dried cassava because they can no longer afford to buy rice.
Ironically, the price of rice in Lampung province, one of the major rice producing centers in the country, has risen to between Rp 3,500 and Rp 5,000 per kilogram, from between Rp 2,500 and Rp 3,500.
Suwarto and his family, residents of Kalirejo village in Lampung Tengah regency, have been forced to switch to eating dried cassava since December, after the proceeds from their harvest had been used to pay off debts.
A rough estimate shows that nearly half of the 3,000 residents of the village have been forced to switch to dried cassava.
"I want to buy rice, but I don't have the money. I have no other skills other than planting rice. I don't have the capital to start a small-scale business," Suwarto said.