Ombudsman asks government to immediately intervene in live chicken prices.

 The Republic of Indonesia Ombudsman has asked the Government to immediately intervene in the price of live chickens, such as by absorbing excess production to become national food reserves.

Member of the Indonesian Ombudsman Yeka Hendra Fatika in a statement received in Jakarta, Wednesday, said the intervention was necessary because the price of live chickens after Eid 2025 was reported to have plummeted, causing farmers to suffer losses.

"The Ombudsman received complaints from farmers in West Java that on April 7-11, 2025 the price of live chicken was IDR 11,000-12,000 per kilogram, then on April 14-16, 2025 the price of live chicken was IDR 13,000-14,000 per kilogram. In fact, there is a reference price for live chicken of IDR 23,000-35,000 per kilogram," he said.

According to Yeka, when compared to the reference price stated in the National Food Agency Regulation Number 6 of 2024, there is a loss difference of at least IDR 9,000 per kilogram of live chicken.

"The losses of independent farmers with a population of 6 million. With an average weight per live chicken of 1.6 kilograms, the production volume is Rp9.6 million kilograms per week, so the estimated loss each week reaches Rp86.4 billion," he added.

He predicted that if there were no intervention steps from the Government, the losses could continue until the end of May 2025 reaching Rp691.2 billion. Therefore, the Ombudsman asked the Ministry of Agriculture and the National Food Agency to immediately take intervention steps.