Chicken farmer struggles to restart business<\/p>\n
Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Yudhi sits in front of his home in Dukuh Mekar, Parung, West
\nJava, looking at his two empty chicken pens. He has little money
\nleft after most of his birds died in January.<\/p>\n
\"I had more than 7,000 chickens in these coops only two months
\nago. I felt rich at that time. I even planned to add another
\nwhile paying my debts by using profits from the sale of the
\nchickens,\" Yudhi, 32, said.<\/p>\n
Then, one by one, all his chickens began to die. The cause of
\nthe incident remained a mystery to him until newspapers reported
\nthe outbreak of bird flu. The poultry business plunged as people
\nbecame reluctant to eat chicken. Yudhi killed and burnt all his
\nchickens left alive to prevent the spread of the disease.<\/p>\n
\"I simply lost everything. Last week, the creditor asked me to
\npay all his money back or he would take my coops. I had to empty
\nout our savings and borrow money from someone else to pay this
\ndebt. I told one of my children not to go to school temporarily
\nto cut expenses,\" Yudhi said pointing to his 12 year-old son,
\nSyamsul, who has just entered junior high school.<\/p>\n
With the help of his mother and his wife, he had devoted his
\ntime and energy to his chicken business in the knowledge that
\nafter each 33-day cycle, he would harvest a big gain.<\/p>\n
\"I lost at least Rp 12 million because of the disease and I
\ndon't know how to support my wife, mother and my two children,\"
\nYudhi said.<\/p>\n
Yudhi began his business by borrowing money from an usurer who
\ncharged him an interest rate of 10 percent a month, 10 times
\nhigher than most banks' lending rates, confident he could make a
\nhigh profit.<\/p>\n
The government has reiterated its willingness to help chicken
\nfarmers like Yudhi by encouraging banks to provide them loans
\nwith simple requirements. One of the state-controlled banks, BRI,
\nannounced recently that it had allocated 1.5 percent of its total
\nfunds, or Rp 450 billion, for the affected farmers.<\/p>\n
\"Bank, what bank? I did try to get loan from several nearby
\nbanks but their requirements were so complicated. They asked for
\ncollateral for the loan, which I didn't have. Until now, I've
\nnever heard about any of my fellow farmers obtaining loans from
\nthem,\" Yudhi said.<\/p>\n
Yudhi's family is one of hundreds of thousands of chicken-
\nfarming families across the country who are struggling to get
\nback on their feet after the bird flu began to destroy their
\nbusinesses in November last year.<\/p>\n
According to Indonesian Poultry Information Center chairman
\nHartono, there are over 250,000 small-scale farmers nationwide,
\nmost of who went bankrupt because of the disease.<\/p>\n
Prior to the outbreak of the bird flu, these farmers accounted
\nfor 35 percent of the nation's total chicken production of 1.2
\nmillion tons, worth Rp 4 trillion per year. Most of them started
\ntheir businesses using their own money, or from loans by
\nrelatives or usurers.<\/p>\n
\"Unless the government steps in to help out the farmers, many
\nof them will not go back to their poultry businesses and will
\nfind other businesses instead,\" Hartono said.<\/p>\n
Yudhi's story showed how a man initially able to support his
\nfamily with his small business had suddenly found himself
\nimpoverished.<\/p>\n
The latest government data released prior to the outbreak of
\nthe disease showed the number of poor people who earned less than
\nUS$1 a day had reached 34 million. The bird flu is likely to have
\nboosted these figures and further complicated the government's
\nefforts to alleviate poverty nationwide.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Yudhi continues to sit in front of his coops,
\nwondering if his son will ever go back to school again.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/chicken-farmer-struggles-to-restart-business-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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