IN an effort to stabilize shallots, the National Food Agency (Bapanas) together with the Ministry of Agriculture (Kementan) and food stakeholders will accelerate market operations through the Cheap Food Movement (GPM) in the Jakarta area. Activities took place from Monday (29/4) to Wednesday (8/5) at 63 location points plus two horticultural farmer partner markets (PMTH).
In this market operation, green onions, Bima Brebes and Super Brebes will be provided at affordable prices. “Through massive cheap market operations in the next few days, we hope to suppress the red onion turmoil which has recently become a public concern,” said Bapanas Head Arief Prasetyo Adi in an official statement quoted on Sunday (28/4).
He explained that fluctuations in the price of shallots occurred following Eid 2024. Referring to the National Food Agency (Bapanas) food price panel data, the price of horticultural commodities was IDR 52,920 per kilogram (kg). However, on the market the price of shallots has reached IDR 80,000 per kg.
Arief explained that the reason for the high price of shallots was because production in central areas such as Central Java was disrupted due to flooding. “Around 7,500 hectares (ha) were affected by flooding and there were also around 2,500 hectares affected. This means the potential loss of production might be around 25 thousand tons,” said the Head of Bapanas.
Another cause is limited labor both in production, distributors, and to the market ahead of and a few days following Eid, which influences the price of shallots to rise.
In this GPM, red onions will be available in 0.5 and 1 kg packages. Batu Ijo red onions can be bought for IDR 25 thousand per kg, Bima Brebes red onions are sold for IDR 35 thousand per kg, and Super Brebes red onions for IDR 40 thousand per kg. He projects that in the next 30 to 40 days, shallot prices will stabilize once more. (Z-2)
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