Jakarta (ANTARA) – The National Food Agency (Bapanas) has revealed that the high price of red bird’s eye chili in several markets is not caused by a production shortage, but rather by weather constraints and limited harvesting labor.Bapanas Deputy for Food Availability and Stabilization I Gusti Ketut Astawa said that nationally, red bird’s eye chili production remains sufficient, but the harvesting process has been disrupted by high rainfall intensity.“Production is actually more than sufficient, but the problem lies in harvesting. During heavy rain, workers are reluctant to pick the chilies because they will rot quickly,” Astawa said after conducting a surprise inspection of food prices and supplies at Pasar Minggu, here on Monday.In addition to weather factors, Astawa noted that labor shortages were also influenced by the national holiday period, which caused supplies to main markets to decline even though stocks at the production level were still available.He explained that the condition has hampered chili distribution to main markets, leading to higher prices at the consumer level.Bapanas stressed that the price increase is not related to hoarding practices or price manipulation by business actors.He added that supervision will continue in cooperation with the National Police’s Food Task Force to ensure proper food distribution.Improved weather conditions and the resumption of harvesting activities are expected to boost supply within the next two weeks. Therefore, red bird’s eye chili prices are projected to gradually decline.Meanwhile, monitoring and surprise inspections conducted by Bapanas at Kramat Jati Main Market showed that the price of red bird’s eye chili was in the range of Rp80,000 per kilogram (kg), lower than the previous week when it had reached Rp90,000 per kg to Rp100,000 per kg.The figure was close to data from the National Strategic Food Price Information Center (PHIPS) on Monday, which recorded the average price of red bird’s eye chili at Rp79,950 per kg in traditional markets across all provinces.