Why Basic Food Prices are Rising in Ramadan?

Hello everyone Marhaban Yaa Ramadhan Ramadan is a month full of grace and restraint from all sin, the moon where all charities both folded duplicate reward, hopefully we can run it smoothly and get a lot of reward in this month’s Amen… Special for Ramadhan, AgriTalk will discuss things about Ramadhan. And last week we had discuss about “ Why Basic Food Prices are Rising in Ramadhan “. Do you know what is the reason ?.  Here is our conversation, happy reading everyone

Events that always happen before the month of Ramadan or which is often called by the people of Indonesia with fasting month is the rise in the price of staples, not only ahead of the fasting month but also ahead of Idul Fitri. Many people who blame the government for this, before we suudzon with the government, it would be nice if we see ourselves first (the people of Indonesia), there is actually a logical reason if you want to think less. The Indonesian people are unique, the month of Ramadan, the month where we only eat at night should our consumption level be reduced. But the fact is the consumption of most of us even greater when Ramadan.

A typical day may be extremely rare to make tea at home. However, when fasting, either when the breaking the fast and “ saur “, sweet tea are always available. Day-to-day eating with a side dish is not so much, but when fasting when eating after breaking the fast with a special side that there is something lacking. Not to mention the variety of sweet foods and beverages that may be only we eat when fasting, call it kolak for example. With such a pattern of consumption it is natural that the stock of some commodities in the market is reduced drastically, lha wong we eat also added a lot

After seeing the behavior of people in the month of Ramadan, now let’s look at it from the other side, here are the things that also lead to rising food prices:

1. First, during fasting many people request for some commodity like rice, chili, palm oil, sugar or onion. Because many request for some commodity like that it can be increasing for the price for that commodity.
2. Second, some people in our country do cheating action, they keep some commodity to make increasing the price for that commodity. Because they think if they don’t keep the commodity the price will still with normal price and they just got little bit money.
3. Third, is about the transportation. During fasting because near Eid Fitri many Provider of transportation services like airplane, bus, or ship raising the price and that thing is Have a direct impact on the price for some commodity who can make the price from that commodity can be increasing. Because public tranportation is still one of Main transport for shipping the commodity.

What should we do to prevent this from happening?

First, inventory must be increased in number. Who should be responsible with this? Certainly the responsible ones are the government, The producers and traders. The government is responsible for regulating the availability of goods on the market. By the authority,  the Government can encourage producers to produce goods in large quantities long before Ramadan and Lebaran and the producers have to provide it. If producers produce large quantities of goods at the time of approaching Eid, surely the traders have no intention to do the hoarding.

Second, about the need for goods.  Because this requirement was attached to a human being, then that needs to be controlled is its human. What should be controlled from humans? The answer is LUST! It is human desire that must be controlled, because it is the desire that drives people to buy goods in large quantities. If the lust can be controlled or turned off, surely humans will not buy in large quantities. Consequently, prices will not rise. The problem is, can human control their lust? Actually when this time (the month of Ramadan) is a very precise moment. The essence of fasting is the control of the lust, not the greed seen from the rising portion of food. Isn’t the fast invites people to refrain? Isn’t it at the time of fasting people only eat twice a day? According to Nielsen’s research, during the fasting month, lower-class consumer spending rose 30 percent while the middle class rose 16 percent. Let’s let the self-introspection

It can also be explained economically guys. The Economy has a Law of Demand and Offer. One of the things that cause the price of goods to continue creeping up is the principle of “supply and demand”. As one of the economic law that says if demand increases and goods do not exist then there will likely be an increase in the price of goods. As the fast approaches, the price of goods keeps rising as demand continues to increase while the number of goods remains or tends to decrease.

Let us analyze from the supply side by taking the example of Javanese culture. During the fasting like this many people in the Java area who perform the ritual “send prayer” to the relatives who have died. This ritual is a form of thanksgiving by inviting the neighbors and relatives to the house to pray together to pray for relatives who have come to the world. This activity is not only done by one family but by all families who have family who have died. Of course the family who organizes this event provides food for their guests. This causes demand for rice needs to increase. Rising demand for rice is not followed by the increase in the amount of rice in the market, this is why the price of rice continues to climb. As the law of demand and supply “when the supply of an item increases, but the demand for the goods decreases, the price of the goods will fall” while if “demand increases but the supply decreases then the price of the goods will rise”. So the way that can be done so that the price does not continue to rise is trying to make the number of offers exceeds the amount of demand in the market.

What has been and will be done by the Government?

The Ministry of Agriculture is in charge of providing staple supplies for the month of Ramadhan. POLRI, Tito Karnavian as the Chief of Police, Tito revealed that the Police of Republic of Indonesia will soon form a Task Force (Satgas) Food tasked specifically to conduct supervision and firm action against the speculators who stock up food. Immediate efforts are made by the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Trade in ensuring stock availability and stabilizing prices, namely:

• Lowering the Team to the field and inviting the Agricultural Service and Trade Service to discuss stock data and price developments so that the Ministry of Agriculture and Ministry of Commerce can anticipate How many stocks exist in these areas.
• The Central Government regulates and guarantees its means of distribution, allowing rapid food supply to market while maintaining price stability.