Lowokwaru (malangkota.go.id) – Following up on the results of yesterday's market inspection of price monitoring in traditional and modern markets, the Malang City Regional Inflation Control Team (TPID) immediately inspected tomato fields in Merjosari Village and Tlogomas Village, Lowokwaru District, Malang City, Thursday (31/10/2024).

Assistant for Economy and Development of the Malang City Regional Secretariat, Diah Ayu Kusuma Dewi who led the review said, in the previous inspection, it was found that the price of tomatoes experienced a significant price spike. Therefore, the Acting Mayor of Malang instructed to take intervention steps, one of which was by reviewing the lands producing commodities that experienced price spikes.
"From yesterday's price monitoring and monitoring, it is known that the price of tomatoes has increased very high, from the usual Rp5.000-Rp8.000 yesterday to Rp15.000-Rp17.000. Therefore, the Acting Mayor of Malang ordered all of us to see how far the management of tomatoes in urban areas is," he explained.
From the monitoring results, Diah revealed that the condition of the land and the quality of tomato plants in Malang City are quite good. However, there are obstacles faced by farmers, namely the distribution of water to farmers' lands which affects the quality of tomato plants.
This statement was also confirmed by the Head of the Sumber Rejeki Farmer Group in Merjosari Village, Heni. She said that water distribution is one of the obstacles experienced by farmers. So far, farmers have only relied on rainwater and bought it from water sources that are quite far from agricultural land. She also hopes that there will be assistance from the Malang City Government for farmers to help with this water distribution problem.
"This land is rain-fed, so it depends entirely on rainwater. If there is no rain, farmers have to buy water. So we expect assistance from the Malang City Government for us," said Heni.
Responding to what Heni said, Diah said that this aspiration would later be conveyed during a meeting with the Acting Mayor of Malang. However, according to her, intervention related to water constraints would certainly require time and considerations, considering that the land used is not owned by the Malang City Government or farmers, so if intervention is carried out, it will not be permanent. Even so, Diah said that the Malang City Government had previously discussed with Bank Indonesia (BI) Malang regarding assistance that would be given to farmers in Malang City, especially for tomato and chili commodities which have several times contributed to the inflation rate in Malang City.
"Actually, these tomatoes grow well, but because there is not enough water, it looks less fertile. Therefore, later we will propose that there needs to be an intervention in the form of water distribution, either in the form of sprinklers, or providing reservoirs. Some time ago, BI also offered us assistance regarding water constraints that are also experienced by chili farmers. So it actually fits," he added.
Diah further explained that the Malang City TPID will continue to monitor the rate of increase in tomato prices in Malang City. In terms of quantity, the stock of tomatoes in Malang City according to her is still far from sufficient to meet the demand for tomato stocks in Malang City. Therefore, if necessary and possible, cooperation between regions (KAD) will be carried out, especially to control the rate of inflation caused by certain commodities in Malang City, including tomatoes.
"If necessary, KAD will also be carried out with tomato producing areas, later it will be seen first from these areas whether it is possible to be taken out, so that we can intervene and the price of tomatoes becomes stable," he concluded. (iu/yon)