Deni Narde; Bulog Warehouse Unable to Hold Kolaka Farmers’ Grain

KOLAKA, WN—One of the roles of Perum Bulog as an institution tasked with maintaining national food security is having a strategic role in distributing rice to the community, either through social assistance programs, market operations, or commercial sales.

However, the problems and obstacles faced, especially by Bulog Kolaka’s warehouse facilities, are not able to accommodate the farmers’ grain purchased when the harvest season arrives. This was conveyed by the Head of Perum Bulog Kolaka Southeast Sulawesi (Sultra) Deni Narde when met by this media in his office on (27/10/2025).

Deni explained that the harvest area of ​​Kolaka farmers is approximately 11 thousand to 13 thousand hectares, when converted to grain production it reaches 60 thousand tons in one harvest season.

“Meanwhile, the capacity of the Bulog Kolaka warehouse can only accommodate up to 70 thousand tons,” explained Deni.

Apart from inadequate warehouse capacity to accommodate farmers’ grain, said Deni, Kolaka Bulog also does not have grain drying machines, while Kolaka farmers’ overall grain production can reach 200 tons.

“To dry grain purchased from farmers, you have to rent a drying machine owned by the entrepreneur, and even then you have to be patient and wait because the entrepreneur will definitely prioritize the interests of his business first,” said Deni.

He said that according to presidential instructions (Inpres) Bulog was assigned to buy only three million tons of rice reserves nationally at a price of IDR 6,500 per kilo, and Bulog Kolaka targeted 14 thousand tons, and 32 thousand tons have been realized in the first semester of August 2025.

“Currently we still have a stock of 28 thousand tons of rice in warehouses, and there are no instructions for distribution yet. If this rice is stored in the warehouse for too long it will affect the quality of the rice, it could change color. Because the maximum limit for storing rice in the warehouse is a maximum of 18 months, even if the water content is at a maximum limit of 10 percent,” he said.

When asked about the problem of complaints from a number of farmers in the field that their grain could not be purchased by Bulog, this was confirmed by Deni, that this problem often occurred in the field when Bulog wanted to buy farmers’ grain, but because the quality of the farmers’ grain was not of good quality or the grain was not full enough, but sometimes farmers were forced to sell it at a price of IDR 6,500/kg.

“We also cannot do this, because it could be an indication of a violation because it violates rigid operational standards,” said Deni.

Apart from that, another problem, said Deni, is that although the farmers’ grain that Bulog wants to buy is according to the government’s standard price of IDR 6,500/kg, sometimes the farmers don’t want their grain to be bought by Bulog, because when farmers start processing the rice fields, all their operational costs are borne by the middlemen, so the price of the farmers’ grain is completely determined by the middlemen.

“Well, this is a classic problem farmers often encounter in the field, and of course this condition cannot be ignored because it will be detrimental to the farmers themselves and we hope that the Regional Government will step in to provide a solution,” said Deni.

According to Deni, to overcome this problem, an active role for the Regional Government is needed in supervising buying and selling practices at the farmer level and strengthening access to financing and post-harvest facilities. In this way, farmers no longer depend on middlemen so they can sell their crops at a reasonable price in accordance with government policy, so that grain price stability is maintained.

“It is hoped that the Regional Government can intervene in the handling of privately owned milling business permits so that it can help farmers. “Because Bulog can only balance prices in accordance with Government regulations and does not have the power to intervene with traders and milling entrepreneurs,” he hoped.

In terms of purchasing grain from farmers, said Deni, Bulog buys grain from farmers without making cash transactions with farmers because everything is done by Central Bulog. Kolaka Bulog officers only input farmer account data and the payments are made by the central Bulog directly into the farmer’s account.

“We buy grain from farmers and never pay in cash, the officers only input data and ask for the farmer’s account number because the person who pays is the Central Bureau of Logistics and the money goes directly into the farmer’s account,” concluded Deni. (**)

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