The Ombudsman found a problem with the Ministry of Agriculture’s recommendation to import garlic

The reported person has been proven to have committed maladministration in the form of breach of legal obligations, failure to provide services and discrimination…

Jakarta (MidLand) – Indonesia’s Ombudsman has uncovered several issues of maladministration in the process of providing recommendations for the import of garlic-based horticultural products (RIPH) by the Ministry of Agriculture (Kementan).

Indonesian Ombudsman member Yeka Hendra Fatika, in a press conference held in Jakarta on Friday, revealed that this conclusion was obtained after the Ombudsman carried out examinations of 12 parties, including the Ministry of Agriculture, the National Food Agency, the National One Stop Shop Institute, the Indonesian Quarantine Agency and the Ministry of Trade.

In his findings, Yeka said many garlic importers still have difficulty obtaining import approval. This was caused by the problematic issuance of the RIPH by the Directorate General of Horticulture, Ministry of Agriculture.

Yeka explained that many importers were unable to access the RIPH Online system, there were also applications submitted by importers which were rejected and many had not yet been verified by the Ministry of Agriculture.

In fact, in accordance with article 19 of the Regulation of the Ministry of Agriculture n. 39 of 2019, the validation and verification process of RIPH technical documents should be completed within 5 working days.

However, Yeka said that some other requests actually had a relatively short timeframe or were still within the specified timeframe.

“The reported party has been shown to have committed maladministration by ignoring legal obligations, not providing services and discriminating in the provision of services for the RIPH application at the acceptance stage,” it also said.

The next finding was that the Ombudsman found that many importers did not comply with the mandatory requirements for planting garlic.

Compulsory garlic planting is a government policy that requires garlic importers to plant and produce garlic domestically, with the aim of increasing domestic garlic production.

This policy is regulated in the Regulation of the Minister of Agriculture (Permentan) Number 38 of 2017 relating to RIPH.

Yeka said that every year there are more and more garlic companies. However, of the 214 companies that will import garlic in 2023, only 44 companies will carry out mandatory garlic planting.

This policy, he said, must be evaluated because many importers take advantage of regulatory gaps to avoid this obligation.

This compulsory plantation policy is mandatory for companies that have imported before, while those that have never imported are not required to carry out compulsory plantation.

“The number of old companies carrying out mandatory planting is decreasing. This means that this year he can import, but not carry out mandatory plantings. “Just create a new company, then demand more imports, so that there are more companies producing garlic every year,” Yeka said.

Read also: Ombudsman says garlic import permits are double the stipulated amount
Read also: The Ministry of Agriculture says that 117 companies have complied with the obligation to plant garlic

Reporter: Shofi Ayudiana
Publisher: Budisantoso Budiman
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