Incentives for rice farmers hailed<\/p>\n
Adianto P. Simamora, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Experts welcomed on Friday the government's plan to provide
\nincentives for rice farmers, but said that the government must
\nalso curb the smuggling of cheap rice into the country, which has
\nbeen hurting farmers' income.<\/p>\n
\"It is a sympathetic move. The government wants to ease the
\nburden on farmers by providing the incentives ... But without
\ncurbing the illegal import of rice, the incentives will not
\nbenefit farmers,\" Bayu Krisnamurthi, director of the Center for
\nDevelopment Studies at Bogor Institute of Agriculture (IPB), told
\nThe Jakarta Post.<\/p>\n
The Ministry of Agriculture said on Thursday it had proposed a
\nhike in the floor price of unhusked rice by 15 percent, to Rp
\n1,746 per kilogram (kg); an increase in the import tariff on rice
\nto Rp 735 per kg, from Rp 430, and a fertilizer subsidy.<\/p>\n
The floor price is the reference price level used by the State
\nLogistics Agency (Bulog) to purchase rice from farmers for
\nreserves purpose.<\/p>\n
Farmers have long called for such incentives amid the rising
\ncost of production and the massive inflow of cheap imported rice
\nproducts. An increase in the import tariff is expected to limit
\nrice imports.<\/p>\n
Under the proposed fertilizer subsidy policy, the price of
\nurea-based fertilizer, for example, would reduce, to Rp 1,150 per
\nkg, from the current Rp 1,400.<\/p>\n
Bayu, however, said that the higher import tariff could
\ntrigger private importers to ship in illegally cheap rice
\nproducts.<\/p>\n
He said that the customs office had a strategic role to
\nprevent the smuggling of rice.<\/p>\n
Chairman of the Indonesian Farmers Association (HKTI) Siswono
\nYudhohusodo concurred.<\/p>\n
\"Curbing illegal rice imports is essential if the government
\nwants to encourage local farmers to continue planting rice,\"
\nSiswono told the Post.<\/p>\n
He said that it was impossible for local rice products to
\ncompete with cheaper imported rice.<\/p>\n
He cited as an example that smuggled rice from Thailand was
\nbeing sold here at Rp 1,700 per kg, compared with the price of
\nlocal rice at around Rp 2,500 per kg.<\/p>\n
He said that the massive influx of cheaper imported rice was
\nan indication of the government's inability to protect the
\ninterests of local farmers.<\/p>\n
Rice is a strategic commodity in this country because it is
\nthe staple foodstuff of the more than 210 million population.<\/p>\n
The government wants to boost the production of rice as part
\nof efforts to ensure national food security. In 1984, the country
\nmanaged to obtain self-sufficiency in rice but since then
\nproduction levels have declined for a variety of reasons.<\/p>\n
The government is targeting rice production this year at 52
\nmillion tons of unhusked rice, equal to about 30 million tons of
\nmilled rice.<\/p>\n
Bayu said that the above proposed incentives were short-term
\nmeasures to help lift the profit margin of rice farmers, but
\nwarned that fundamental problems, such as poor irrigation
\nsystems, the low quality of seedlings and a decline in the area
\ndevoted to rice growing, had also to be tackled by the
\ngovernment.<\/p>",
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