Minister concerned over delays in farm credits<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Agriculture Sjarifudin Baharsjah
\nexpressed concern over the delay of loan distribution to farmers,
\nsaying that it had caused them serious disadvantages.<\/p>\n
Speaking to reporters late last week, Sjarifudin said that
\nfarmers could have actually obtained loans specially allocated
\nfor them before the last planting season, but they failed to do
\nso because Bank Rakyat Indonesia and Bank Pembangunan Daerah --
\ntwo banks appointed by the government to manage the loans -- were
\ntoo slow in giving information on the simplified procedures to
\nobtain the credits.<\/p>\n
\"The delay has caused financial difficulties for farmers
\nbecause they had to buy fertilizers and farming equipment at
\nhigher prices, with their own money,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Farming credits, locally called KUT, were first introduced in
\n1985 by the state-owned Bank Rakyat Indonesia. The facility is
\naimed at strengthening rice and secondary crop cultivation and to
\nimprove farmers' welfare.<\/p>\n
Sjarifudin said that the ministry had decided to simplify the
\nprocedures needed to obtain the loans by cutting back a large
\namount of red tape. From the present 11 steps, farmers now are
\nonly required to take three steps before obtaining the loans.<\/p>\n
He said that for the 1994 planting season (October 1994-March
\n1995), the banks provided Rp 34.6 billion (US$15.5 million) in
\nKUT loans, of which Rp 831 million or 2.4 percent had been
\nrepaid.<\/p>\n
The accumulative amount of KUT credits channeled between 1985
\nand 1995 has reached Rp 567 billion, 79.7 percent of which has
\nbeen repaid.<\/p>\n
Although farmers could not use the loan during the previous
\nplanting season, Sjarifudin was optimistic that they could use it
\nfor the upcoming planting season in October.<\/p>\n
He noted that the productivity of rice crops had increased
\nlately, not only because there was an expansion of the harvested
\nareas but also because farmers used larger and effective amounts
\nof fertilizer.<\/p>\n
The minister said that the last harvest season resulted in
\nmore crops than the previous season. This could be seen from the
\nincrease of planted areas which reached more than 863,584
\nhectares this planting season, indicating a 50.5 percent increase
\nover last year's planting season of 573,844 hectares.<\/p>\n
He said that to accelerate the distribution of information on
\nthe KUT loans, field supervisors would receive an incentive worth
\none percent of the loans for farmers.(pwn)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/minister-concerned-over-delays-in-farm-credits-1447893297",
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