Special team to decide on import of Indian beef<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Agriculture Soleh Solahuddin said on
\nFriday that a decision on whether to import beef and buffalo meat
\nfrom India would hinge on the report of a fact-finding team which
\nwill be sent to India later this month.<\/p>\n
Soleh said the team would leave for India on Feb. 15 and would
\nvisit sites in Maharastra and the neighboring states.<\/p>\n
\"The team will be sent to these states because they are
\nthought to be free of foot-and-mouth disease and rinderpest,\"
\nSoleh said during a hearing with House of Representatives
\nCommission III for agriculture and food affairs.<\/p>\n
\"If the team concludes that Indian meat is unhygienic, we will
\ncancel the plan.\"<\/p>\n
Soleh said the team would be selected from among scholars,
\nveterinarians, ministry officials and Indonesian Ulemas Council
\nexecutives.<\/p>\n
Members of the commission criticized the government's plan to
\nimport meat from India, saying that it would carry too great a
\nrisk of introducing contagious diseases and would kill off the
\nlocal cattle industry.<\/p>\n
Umbu Mehang Kunda, who chairs the commission, said the
\ngovernment had not examined the full impact of importing the meat
\non the economy.<\/p>\n
\"Policies such as importing eggs and meat run counter to the
\ngovernment's pledge to develop the local cattle industry,\" he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Golkar Legislator Elyas said the plan to import meat would
\ncrush local cattle breeders.<\/p>\n
\"This plan is merely a shortcut which will bring great
\ndifficulty to the local cattle industry,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Elyas acknowledged that the country faced a shortage of meat
\nduring Christmas, New Year, the Ramadhan fasting month and Idul
\nFitri, all of which fell during December and January.<\/p>\n
\"But demand has fallen now that the festivities are over and a
\nglut in supply caused by importing Indian meat would damage the
\nlocal industry,\" he explained.<\/p>\n
The Indonesian Veterinary Association, the Indonesian Meat
\nProducers and Feedlot Association and the Indonesian Consumer
\nFoundation have also given their similar criticism and opposition
\nto the government's plan.<\/p>\n
Responding to the criticism, Soleh said the plan would benefit
\nthe poor by increasing the supply of cheap meat in the country.<\/p>\n
\"So please be objective in this matter and do not intimidate
\npeople with bombastic statements.\"<\/p>\n
Soleh also denied rumors that Indian beef and buffalo meat had
\nbeen smuggled into Indonesia through Medan in North Sumatra and
\nBatam island in Riau.<\/p>\n
\"I haven't checked the allegations, but so far we don't have
\nany evidence to support these claims.\"<\/p>\n
Director General of Animal Husbandry Erwin Soetirto said that
\nonly two importers, PT Alana and PT Al Kadir, had applied for a
\nlicense to import Indian meat.<\/p>\n
\"Both firms have agreed to supply cheap beef and buffalo meat
\nfrom India. But I don't think that the demand for buffalo meat is
\nhigh enough here to make it worth their while.\"<\/p>\n
Soleh said Aurangabad, a regency in Maharastra, exported
\nbuffalo meat to 53 countries, including Malaysia and Brunei.<\/p>\n
\"Sarawak (in Malaysia) and Brunei share a common border with
\nKalimantan. Why hasn't the OIE (an international body concerned
\nwith the study of epidemics in animals) concerned itself with the
\npossibility of the diseases spreading into Indonesia through
\nthese channels?\" he said.<\/p>\n
According to the OIE, India has not been declared free of
\nfoot-and-mouth disease and rinderpest, an highly contagious
\nbovine pleuropneumonia.<\/p>\n
The OIE ranks rinderpest, which has a 90 percent mortality
\nrate, as the most dangerous animal disease in the world.<\/p>\n
Indonesia eradicated the disease in 1990 after an outbreak
\ndecimated the country's cattle population in 1987. (gis)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/special-team-to-decide-on-import-of-indian-beef-1447893297",
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