Jakarta (ANTARA) – Indonesia’s National Food Agency (Bapanas) proposed adding 150,000 metric tons to its subsidized feed-corn program to help micro-scale poultry farmers manage rising feed costs and stabilize egg and chicken prices.Bapanas Deputy for Food Availability and Stabilization I Gusti Ketut Astawa said the proposal would protect the poultry-farming ecosystem, particularly micro-scale farmers vulnerable to feed-price fluctuations.“The feed-corn program’s quota has therefore been proposed for an additional 150,000 tons,” Ketut said in Jakarta on Thursday.Bapanas said its 2026 feed-corn supply and price stabilization program began in early May, with an initial allocation of 213,200 tons for micro, small, and medium-scale poultry farmers.The allocation included 138,650 tons for micro farmers, based on three months’ demand; 50,370 tons for small farmers, based on two months; and 24,170 tons for medium farmers, based on one month.Bapanas has formally proposed the additional allocation to the Coordinating Ministry for Food Affairs for consideration at a limited coordination meeting.Ketut said Bapanas Chief and Agriculture Minister Andi Amran Sulaiman had invited egg-farming associations in Surabaya to assure them that the government would intervene.“The agreement was to control prices. To unlock egg prices at the producer level, the Bapanas chief has decided to add 150,000 tons of feed corn,” Ketut said.Bapanas is awaiting the coordination meeting’s outcome before implementing the additional allocation to help farmers facing higher feed costs.“Then there are day-old chicks and other costs. With additional feed corn, we hope farmers can still buy feed at relatively reasonable prices,” Ketut said.Bapanas said feed-corn distribution had reached 49.97 percent of the 213,200-ton target as of August 18, with 120,310 tons accessed by farmers across 28 provinces.East Java had the largest number of participating farmers at 3,672, followed by Central Java with 2,012, Bapanas said.“With these measures, we hope egg prices remain relatively controlled at both the producer and consumer levels,” Ketut said.He said producer-level egg prices remained below the government’s reference purchase price of Rp26,500 per kilogram (US$1.61).Efforts to raise producer prices are continuing to improve returns for farmers, he said.“On the consumer side, however, prices remain below Rp30,000 per kilogram (US$1.82),” Ketut said.