Cooperatives land loans for rice buys<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The government is to disburse Rp 778 billion
\n(about US$91 million) in cheap loans to village cooperatives and
\nnon-governmental organizations for use in procuring rice from
\nlocal farmers, Agriculture Minister Soleh Solahuddin said on
\nFriday.<\/p>\n
Soleh said Bank Indonesia (BI), the central bank, would
\ndisburse the loans through the state Bank Rakyat Indonesia
\nbeginning next week.<\/p>\n
\"BRI is expected to receive the money from BI next Monday or
\nTuesday. The loans are expected to reach the cooperatives and
\nnon-governmental organizations within one week, he said.<\/p>\n
The minister said the loans are necessary for the cooperatives
\nto buy rice from farmers in order to protect them from the
\ncurrent fall in the price of unhusked rice, he said after his
\nmeeting with President B.J. Habibie.<\/p>\n
The loans will be distributed to around 5,000 cooperatives and
\nseveral non-governmental organizations nationwide to procure
\naround one million tons of unhusked rice, he said.<\/p>\n
Soleh said that BI has disbursed around Rp 45.6 billion of the
\nloans this week to village cooperatives in Java through BRI, in
\norder to stabilize rice prices there.<\/p>\n
He said that the loans should have been distributed early
\nJanuary when farmers started to harvest their crops, but
\ndisbursement was delayed because of the financial bureaucracy and
\nproblems between BRI and the non-governmental organizations that
\nhad to be settled first.<\/p>\n
\"The delay in credit disbursement has resulted in the sharp
\nfall in the price of unhusked rice during the current harvest
\nseason,\" he said.<\/p>\n
In several rice-producing areas in Java, farmers have had to
\nsell unhusked rice at around Rp 1,000 per kilogram, below the
\nfloor price of between Rp 1,400 and Rp 1,500 per kilogram set by
\nthe government in December, he said.<\/p>\n
\"That's why BRI immediately disbursed the Rp 45 billion in
\narranged loans after getting BI's approval, because we have to
\nimmediately start helping farmers by buying their rice at floor
\nprices,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, State Minister of Food Affairs and Horticulture A.M
\nSaefuddin said earlier this week that the government has also
\nallocated another Rp 1.5 trillion in BI liquidity credits to be
\nused by the State Logistics Agency (Bulog) to buy one million
\ntons of unhusked rice from local farmers in order to stabilize
\nprices.<\/p>\n
But he said, the amount would not be enough to help farmers
\nbecause 20 million tons of unhusked rice would be produced during
\nthe current harvest which will last until May. (gis\/prb)<\/p>",
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