Sugar row between growers and factories continues<\/p>\n
Eva C. Komandjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
The dispute between sugar cane farmers and sugar factories is
\nheating up with both sides blaming each other for being
\ninefficient and unproductive, causing a fall in the country's
\nsugar output.<\/p>\n
The Indonesian Association of Sugarcane Growers (APTRI)
\nchairman, Arum Sabil, told The Jakarta Post that the government
\nneeded to revitalize the nation's sugar factories by replacing
\nold and manually operated equipment to boost sugar output.<\/p>\n
\"We urge the government to replace manual with semiautomatic
\nmachinery to increase productivity,\" said Arum.<\/p>\n
Arum, who represents sugar cane growers in the country, also
\nhas asked the government to buy new machinery using the import
\ntax on sugar.<\/p>\n
\"PT Perdagangan Indonesia (PPI), a licensed sugar importer,
\nhas contributed Rp 50 billion (US$5.8 million) to the government
\nfrom import tax after operating for only three months.<\/p>\n
\"Therefore, we expect more money from other importers, such as
\nstate-owned plantations (PTPNs), who have been importing sugar
\nfor years. We are quite sure that the government can afford new
\nmachinery with that money,\" said Arum.<\/p>\n
\"Out of 31 sugar factories in Java, we have identified 16 that
\nneed to be upgraded immediately as the equipment is very old. We
\nwill make them a pilot project for East Java,\" said Arum.<\/p>\n
However, he could not estimate how much it would cost to
\nreplace manually operated machines with semiautomatic ones, but
\nhe admitted that he had discussed the matter with Director
\nGeneral of Foreign Trade Sudar S.A at a meeting in Jakarta last
\nweek.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, chairman of the Indonesian Sugar Association (AGI),
\nwhich represent sugar factories, Faruk Bakrie rejected Arum's
\nargument. He asserted that it was the farmers who were
\ninefficient.<\/p>\n
\"Money from sugar import taxes should be allocated for the
\npurchase of new high-quality seeds instead of buying machinery
\nfor sugar factories. There is nothing wrong with our sugar
\nfactories, and they are working perfectly fine. Many of them
\nalready have new machinery,\" said Faruk.<\/p>\n
Faruk mentioned as an example that there were seven sugar
\nfactories in Lampung and two in Medan that already have new
\nequipment.<\/p>\n
\"It is true that all sugar factories are still manually
\noperated, but that is because the government wants to give job
\nopportunities to local people,\" he said.<\/p>\n
He also said that it would take approximately US$150 million
\nto install new sugar processing machinery, and it would be a
\nwaste of money if the cane still had a low sucrose content.<\/p>\n
\"No matter how advanced the machines we have are, if the
\nsucrose content is low, our country's sugar output would not
\nincrease,\" said Faruk.<\/p>\n
From being the world's largest sugar exporter during the Dutch
\ncolonial era, Indonesia is now the world's second largest
\nimporter after Russia. In 2002, Indonesia produced 1.8 million
\ntons of sugar, while demand reached 3.2 million tons.<\/p>\n
Arum has repeatedly maintained that sugar cane produced by
\nfarmers contains a high sucrose content, which is confirmed by
\nforeign laboratories.<\/p>\n
However, factories always say the sucrose content is too low
\nto justify their claims that Indonesia needs to import more
\nsugar, Arum said, adding factories find it more profitable to
\nimport than to produce sugar.<\/p>\n
Minister of Agriculture Bungaran Saragih defended sugar
\nfactories and blamed growers for their inefficient farming
\npractices, saying in Cuba, sugar factories were older than those
\nin Indonesia, but were still able to produce more.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/sugar-row-between-growers-and-factories-continues-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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