BI Sumatera Selatan Encouraging Urban Cultivation Villages

INDUSTRY.co.id - Palembang - Bank Indonesia of South Sumatra encourages urban residents to grow chili in their home yard in "urban farming" program because it has a positive impact to keep inflation of basic needs.

Head of Bank Indonesia of South Sumatera Province Rudi Khairudin in Palembang on Saturday (7/4/2018) said that chili is one of the basic needs of people who are very susceptible to price fluctuations, thus requiring continuous efforts to guard it.

"This program has been launched since last year, and this year continues to be intensified to communities in the community up to housewives," said Rudi.

He explained that Palembang City is currently moving into a metropolitan city actually can control inflation, even lower than the national average of 3.11 percent per year in 2017.

However, he considered Palembang not without the threat of inflation. As with other cities in Indonesia it is known that when there is a crop failure or a matter of distribution and transformation it will trigger inflation. While the needs of chili in Palembang reach 25 tons / day.

"If housewives grow their own chili, they will no longer buy in the market, so demand will decrease and automatically the price will go down, that's the hope," he said.

He said the pilot urban farming project has been done since last year, namely in Ogan Komering Ulu District (OKU) by building clusters of chili and clusters of red onion.

So far, this effort is quite influential in maintaining inflation pressure because as is known needs of chili in Palembang still supported by other regions, namely Brebes, Central Java.

"Seeing this positive response, BI took the Agriculture Department, Food Security Service, and PKK mothers in Palembang to educate 255 housewives to urban farming," he said.

Previously, the Government of Palembang City channeled 6,000 seeds of BI chili help to the community. (Ant)