Indonesia still forbids tea plantation expansions<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The government would continue its policy to
\nrestrict an expansion of tea plantations despite an increase in
\nthe demand on international markets, Secretary General of the
\nMinistry of Agriculture Syarifudin Karama said yesterday.<\/p>\n
\"The restriction remains effective for an indefinite time,\"
\nsaid Karama.<\/p>\n
The government has prohibited state-owned and private tea
\ncompanies from expanding or opening new plantations since 1992 in
\na bid to uphold tea prices which then displayed a decreasing
\ntrend.<\/p>\n
\"Actually, we did not make any decree for that. We only made a
\npolicy to reject any proposal to expand tea plantations or open
\nnew ones,\" said Karama.<\/p>\n
The tea demand in the international market has significantly
\nincreased in the last few years and the surge in the demand has
\npushed up commodity prices.<\/p>\n
Chairman of the Indonesian Tea Association Rachmat Badrudin
\nsaid tea prices were increasing due to the decline in the output
\nof some major producing countries like Kenya, India and China.
\nDrought had damaged tea plantations in Kenya and India and flood
\nin China, he said.<\/p>\n
Achmad Taufik, a division head at the joint marketing office
\nfor the state-owned plantations said average tea prices had
\nincreased by 50 percent in two years, to $1.5 a kilogram this
\nyear from $1.06 in 1995 at the Jakarta tea auction.<\/p>\n
\"High quality tea sold for $2.2 a kilogram last week,\" said
\nTaufik.<\/p>\n
The Intergovernmental Group on Tea, in its recent meeting in
\nBali, said the current increasing trend in tea prices would not
\nlast long.<\/p>\n
Smallholder<\/p>\n
The group predicted a fall in tea prices next year due to the
\nincrease in production in some countries like Sri Lanka, Egypt,
\nIndonesia and the decline in demand in European countries as well
\nas developing countries like Pakistan, Egypt, Iran, and Saudi
\nArabia.<\/p>\n
Karama said with the restriction to open new tea plantations
\nstill effective, the government hoped to increase the country's
\ntea output by enhancing the productivity rate of the existing tea
\nplantations, particularly tea plantations owned by smallholders.<\/p>\n
The ministry estimates tea plantation's total acreage in
\nIndonesia is 158,000 hectares, including 45,000 hectares of
\nsmallholders' plantations, with an annual output of 158,000 tons
\nin 1996.<\/p>\n
The productivity rate of state-owned tea estates reached 2.3
\ntons a hectare, against smallholders' productivity rate of less
\nthan 0.5 tons a hectare.<\/p>\n
Karama said in 1992 the government launched a project funded
\nby the Asian Development Bank to enhance the productivity of
\n20,000 hectares of smallholders' tea plantations in Java by among
\nothers providing farmers with suitable technology.<\/p>\n
About 90 percent of the program had been completed, he said.
\n(jsk)<\/p>",
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