Almost all staple food commodity prices are stable in East Kutai, except chilies. The Regency Govt carries out chilies and other vegetable planting programs to help suppress inflation.
Heaptalk, Jakarta — According to the data from multiple regency departments, Regent Ardiansyah Sulaiman stated that the inflation of staple food commodities in East Kutai can still be controlled (11/28).
“Based on data from the Industry and Trade Department, the Food Security Department, and several other departments, inflation in East Kutai can still be controlled, except for chilies which include red chilies, curly chilies, and large red chilies. The price of these commodities is still high,” said Ardiansyah.
For other food commodities, egg prices are stable while meat stocks can still be coordinated with other regencies. According to the information from the Ministry of Home Affairs, Ardiansyah said several regions in East Kalimantan are not experiencing high inflation, but not the lowest either. However, West Kutai is experiencing the highest inflation compared to other regencies in the province.
Inflation occurred due to price hikes as indicated by increases in most of the expenditure group indices. Statistics Indonesia (BPS) recorded that inflation in Indonesia reached 5.71% year-on-year (YoY) in October 2022. The highest inflation occurred in Tanjung Selor, North Kalimantan, at 9.11%, and the lowest inflation in Ternate, North Maluku at 3.32%. Meanwhile, inflation in East Kalimantan persisted at a moderate rate of 5.84% YoY as of October 2022.
Carrying out chilies planting program to help suppress inflation
Currently, East Kutai Government is focusing its efforts on overcoming inflation through the Food Security Department. Ardiansyah asked the Agriculture and Livestock Department to coordinate with the Food Security Department to run programs for the community to intervene in inflation.
“For instance, as the inflation for chili is relatively high, we can encourage the community to plant chilies and other vegetables. The commodities are actually cheap with prices of only tens of thousands. The program should be disseminated to the community to be implemented immediately,” said Ardiansyah.
Instruction for carrying out the program to tackle inflation was issued in early October 2022. Hence, the results of its implementation can be seen in early January 2023 at the earliest. Ardiansyah expected that the chili and other vegetable planting program will run well to help suppress inflation in East Kutai.
