Government plans tighter control on soybean prices<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The government will tighten control of soybean
\nprices on the domestic market in a bid to encourage farmers to
\nintensify and expand production to reduce dependence on imports,
\nan official says.<\/p>\n
\"The price controls are necessary to reduce imports because
\nthe country's soybean production has increased by an annual
\naverage of only 1.1 percent in the last five years, while imports
\nrose 8.5 percent per annum,\" Director General of Edible
\nPlantation and Horticulture Amrin Kahar said in a seminar here
\nyesterday.<\/p>\n
The government currently controls only the price of imported
\nsoybeans to protect local farmers from foreign competition.<\/p>\n
Amrin said that in 1993, Indonesia produced 1.7 million tons
\nof soybeans and imported 610,600 tons worth US$164.8 million.<\/p>\n
\"If we want to preserve our exports, we have no other choice
\nthan to increase soybean production,\" he added.<\/p>\n
According to Amrin, the Ministry of Agriculture and the
\nNational Logistic Agency (Bulog) have agreed to launch a special
\nprogram to motivate farmers to increase soybean production to
\nachieve national self-sufficiency.<\/p>\n
Ten provinces -- East, Central and West Java, Lampung, Aceh,
\nSouth Sulawesi, West Nusa Tenggara, North and South Sumatra and
\nYogyakarta -- will have priority for receiving instruction to
\nhelp increase production, he said.<\/p>\n
During the newly begun Sixth Five Year Development Plan
\n(Repelita VI) period, the country will set aside an additional
\n184,000 hectares of land for planting soybeans, he added.<\/p>\n
Productivity<\/p>\n
Amrin said the programs are expected to increase soybean
\nproductivity of land devoted to soybean planting from 1.19 tons
\nto 1.5 tons per hectare.<\/p>\n
The country's soybean production, therefore, is expected to
\nincrease to 2.65 million tons next year, 2.93 million tons in
\n1996, 3.20 million tons in 1997 and 3.48 million tons in 1998, he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
In a related development, Dedy Fardiaz, a scholar of the Bogor
\nInstitute of Agriculture, supported an increase in soybean
\nproduction because of their high nutritional value.<\/p>\n
Soybeans are already a staple food for most Indonesians.
\nPeople usually process soybeans to make tofu, tempe, tauco, kecap
\nand soybean milk. Local people use bacterium rhizopus oligosporus
\nto ferment soybeans into tempe. Tauco is fermented soybean paste
\nwhich is used as a condiment.<\/p>\n
Citing research statistics, another speaker, Mansur Fauzan of
\nBulog, said that during 1987, a single Indonesian on average
\nconsumed 8.5 kilograms of soybeans. People living in rural areas
\nconsumed 6.6 kilograms each and those in urban areas 12.3
\nkilograms each.(09)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/government-plans-tighter-control-on-soybean-prices-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}