Chemical fertilizers, pesticides affect Brebes' agribusiness
=================== Kosasih Derajat The Jakarta Post Brebes, Central Java -------------------
Cooking without shallots will mean that food tastes different, although peeling them brings tears to one's eyes due to the sulfur-rich volatile oil they contain.
The bulb-shaped shallot (Allium cepa) can make its growers smile and rich instantly when the yield is good and the price is high. But bad weather -- too much rain or lack of sunshine, as well as attacks by pests, will make growers cry since the problems degrade both the yield's quality and quantity.
Brebes, a regency located along the north coast in westernmost Central Java, some 330 km east of Jakarta, is a major producer of shallots.
In the city, local people earn their living by planting and selling shallots. The average production is 10 tons annually, but when the yield is better in terms of quality and price, more local people rush to plant them.
In September 1998, for instance, the shallot price reached Rp 12,000 per kilogram, the highest experienced. After that, more people planted shallots than ever before. As a result, there was a boom in production.
In December 1999, the price dropped to only Rp 4,000 per kilo due to an oversupply and poor quality. At that time, harvesting was tragic because many farmers suffered losses. Production costs for each hectare of farming land were about Rp 10 million, while the yield of 10 tons per hectare earned them only Rp 4 million. Some 60 percent of the costs were accounted for by fertilizer and pesticide.
For decades, Brebes has been responsible for around 40 percent of the national shallot supply. About half of its production is bought by leading noodle and food manufacturer PT Indofood Sukses Makmur.
However, farmers in this regency currently worry about a gradual decrease in all agricultural production, which also includes red chili, garlic and rice as well as shrimp and fish farming.
The problem is that the soil has become hard and its fertility is decreasing.
Three Taiwanese agribusiness experts recently visiting a farm in Brebes blamed chemical substances as the cause of the problem. "The excessive use of chemical fertilizers must have caused such damage to the soil," Lai Wen-Hsiung, chief executive officer of Taichung-based Nibiotac Technology Co. Ltd., said.
The company's marketing manager, David Peng, added that the farmers had also used excessive amounts of chemical pesticide, which was hazardous to consumers' health.
The regent, Tadjudin Nuraly, invited the Taiwanese experts to demonstrate the relevant up-to-date foreign technology that could be utilized to further develop agribusiness in the area. The regent is strongly committed to exporting agribusiness commodities from his villages to improve his people's financial situation, which in turn can increase the tax yield and earn more revenue for the administration.
However, as the Taiwanese experts said, exports of agro- industry commodities would be rejected by foreign countries if they contained chemical elements that came from fertilizers or pesticides.
The problem is, is it possible to use no fertilizer or pesticide at all?
"Change the tradition now, stop using chemical substances," Lai offered as the solution.