Chicken breeders told to work in partnership

Chicken breeders told to work in partnership

JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Agriculture Sjarifudin Baharsjah
said yesterday that large-scale chicken breeders must establish
partnerships with their smaller counterparts.

Baharsjah said here that by fostering partnerships, smaller
chicken breeding operations can manage up to 60 percent of a
company's total chicken population.

The need to establish partnership programs was stipulated in a
June 17, 1996 ministerial decree on the guidelines for purebred-
chicken breeding.

Baharsjah said that in the first year of partnership, in the
third year of production, 20 percent of a large breeders'
chickens must be managed by small-scale breeders.

In the second year of partnership, this proportion must reach
40 percent, and in the third year 60 percent.

According to the decree, the guidelines are aimed at companies
involved in chicken-hatching and breeding. A chicken-breeding
company is defined as one which owns more than 65,000 purebred
broilers per production cycle or 45,000 purebred laying pullets.

A small-scale breeder is defined as one which has not more
than 15,000 purebred broilers per production cycle or 10,000
purebred laying pullets.

Sjarifudin said yesterday that if companies do not abide by
the guidelines, the government will impose penalties. "Their
business licenses will be reconsidered," he warned.

He pointed out that large companies must show an effort to
engage in partnerships after two years of operation, not after
their operating licenses are issued, because many poultry
businesses operate long before their licenses are issued.

Sjarifudin was quoted by Antara as saying that the new ruling
has been discussed with the breeders' association. A partnership
program should be formalized in a contract, thus putting it on a
proper legal basis. (pwn)