Bandung farmers' profits dissipated by crisis

JAKARTA (JP): Farmers in Bandung regency say "suffering" is the most fitting word to describe their life in the wake of rising prices of chemicals, fertilizers and seedlings.

Several farmers in West Java's Soreang subdistrict said recently the rising prices doubled their costs for growing vegetable crops and rice.

Ili, a 60-year-old farmer in Soreang, expected the rising prices to almost completely erode farmers' net profit for the next three harvests.

"I made a Rp 150,000 net profit from a plot of land of 0.25 of a hectare in the past, but now I get only Rp 5,000 from the same area," he was quoted as saying by Antara

The news agency said the price of urea fertilizer has risen by over 12 percent, from Rp 40,000 (US$5) per 100 kilograms to between Rp 51,000 and Rp 60,000.

Farmers said they did not object to the government increasing the prices of fertilizers as long as the commodities they grew commanded good prices in the market.

But they claimed prices of the commodities had fallen and the money they earned was insufficient to cover their costs.

Several mustard greens (caisin) growers complained they were forced to sell their produce at Rp 200 per kg, a fraction of former prices of between Rp 800 and Rp 1,100.

Mimih, 36, said she formerly sold mustard greens for between Rp 900 and Rp 2,400 per kg, but the price had plummeted.

"Sometimes, traders in the market insist on buying our produce for Rp 300 per kg, telling us that the stock in the market is overflowing already."

She said the price of seedlings also increased to Rp 20,000 per kg from Rp 15,000 previously.

Eighty-year-old Asmud, an eggplant grower, said the price of this commodity in the local market remained somewhat stable.

"I can harvest 40 times during one planting season and this commodity's price is around Rp 400 per kg," he said. But he added that he suffered losses from his mustard greens crop.

He said he lost about Rp 3.5 million in the last two planting seasons.

Despite their hardships, farmers said they would continue to work the land because they did not have any alternative livelihood during the monetary crisis. (rms)