Wednesday January 30, 2008
Stockpile sign of a responsible govt
Comment by V.K. CHIN
IT is the duty of every responsible government to ensure a constant supply of essential foodstuff so that people will have access to such goods on a daily basis.
One way of doing this is to stockpile enough food and fuel in case of an emergency leading to a shortage, whether due to natural causes or other factors. There must be enough supply to last the storm.
For this reason, the Government always has a stockpile of such products to meet any sudden shortage. In this respect, a concerted effort under the new National Price Council to store such goods should meet with all-round approval.
The Government has always stockpiled rice, the stable food of Malaysians and other Asians. People find it tough going without rice, even for a short period.
One advantage of keeping large quantities of foodstuff in reserve is that a particular item can be released to the market to ease any shortage.
Should such a situation arise, the Government will be able to offset the possible hardship facing the people.
But this is going to be a costly exercise, as it is quite expensive to keep such stocks; and they have to be paid for. However, it must be noted that only non-perishable goods can be kept in reserve.
Still, these reserves need to be properly stored to ensure they will not be spoilt. Also, they cannot be kept for too long or else they will become unusable.
Constant checks must be made on their use-by date, as it will be dangerous to release supplies kept beyond their shelf life, which may harm those consuming such goods.
Another concern is that the products should be properly kept and maintained, otherwise there will be a lot of wastage. Government agencies have a poor record when it comes to such matters.
The Government has yet to decide on the products to be stockpiled or the budget for buying the materials. Hundreds of millions if not billions may be required to achieve this target.
Therefore, it is not possible for the Government to add too many items to the list. One possible problem is that, occasionally, such goods will have to be disposed of before they become harmful.
When this has to be done it may flood the market, thus affecting the price of the product concerned. Some consideration will have to given to this in order not to upset the market.
The Government must be mindful of all these issues so as not to cause market disruption, which can lead to price fluctuation of the commodity.
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