Farmers, coops told to coordinate clove trading<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Farmers and cooperatives are expected to
\ncoordinate clove trading after the Clove Marketing and Buffer
\nStock Agency (BPPC) pulls out from the commodity's trading in
\nJuly this year, a senior official says.<\/p>\n
Minister of Cooperatives and Small Enterprises Subiakto
\nTjakrawerdaya said yesterday by cooperating with the
\nConfederation of Primary Cooperative Associations, farmers could
\nstrengthen their bargaining position with cigarettemakers, the
\nmajor buyer of the spice.<\/p>\n
\"We are thinking of steps to form partnerships between the
\nfarmers and cooperatives now,\" he said.<\/p>\n
He said the cooperatives would assist in deals made between
\ncigarettemakers and farmers. It would help determine prices so
\nneither party would benefit more than the other, he said.<\/p>\n
\"We will help them determine a standard price, but the
\ngovernment will not set the price,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Subiakto said the cooperatives would negotiate with
\ncigarettemakers so prices would not be too low.<\/p>\n
He denied that the practice would be similar to the current
\nmonopoly of BPPC.<\/p>\n
In efforts supported by the International Monetary Fund to
\nliberalize domestic trade, the government scrapped the monopoly
\nprivilege given to BPPC in domestic clove trading.<\/p>\n
The reform measure also ordered the dismantling of the agency,
\nwhich is headed by President Soeharto's youngest son Hutomo
\nMandala Putra, by July.<\/p>\n
BPPC was granted the clove-trading monopoly in early 1991.
\nSince then, farmers have had to sell their cloves to the agency,
\nthrough village cooperatives, and producers of clove-blended
\ncigarettes have had to buy their cloves from the agency.<\/p>\n
The government set the floor price for standard-quality cloves
\nat Rp 8,000 (66 U.S. cents) per kilogram.<\/p>\n
However, farmers only receive Rp 5,000 per kilogram for cloves
\nthey sell to BPPC. The agency keeps the remaining Rp 2,000 as
\nequity shares in cooperatives and transfers Rp 1,000 to a special
\naccount for crop diversification funds.<\/p>\n
BPPC sells the cloves to cigarettemakers at a far higher
\nprice, ranging from Rp 10,000 per kilogram for small producers
\nand Rp 12,000 for large producers.<\/p>\n
Farmers also complain they cannot sell cloves to cooperatives
\nbecause their produce is of low quality or cooperatives have no
\ncash on hand.<\/p>\n
This has forced some farmers to sell their product to brokers
\nat much lower prices, mostly below Rp 3,000 a kilogram.<\/p>\n
Subiakto said the price of cloves might drop temporarily
\nbecause of an abundant supply of the commodity at cigarette
\nfactories.<\/p>\n
He said the funds collected from farmers for equity
\nparticipation in their cooperatives, amounting to about Rp 1.1
\ntrillion as of last November, would be distributed within a week.
\n(das)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/farmers-coops-told-to-coordinate-clove-trading-1447893297",
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