Duck farmers to get more attention

Duck farmers to get more attention

JAKARTA (JP): The city administration has decided to help
boost the farming sector by setting up several schemes in an
effort to enhance residents' welfare, an official said on
Tuesday.

"The city administration has, for instance, provided loans in
the form of 1,000 ducks and feed to groups of duck farmers for a
two-month period," head of the city's animal husbandry agency's
planning section, Agung Priambodo, said.

The first batch was handed over recently to 18 groups of
farmers in the capital.

"Eleven groups of 160 farmers in North Jakarta and seven other
groups of 100 people in East Jakarta have benefited," Agung said.

During the two-month period, the first recipient groups
collect eggs and ducklings from the 1,000 ducks before handing
them over to another groups of farmers.

"It is expected that the next group will receive the 'loan'
next month," Agung explained.

According to data from the city administration, Jakarta,
particularly its suburbs, is home to some 780 farmers in 52
groups, who currently raise some 61,000 ducks.

Almost half of the farmers live in North Jakarta. Thirteen
other groups reside in West Jakarta, 11 in East Jakarta and the
remaining four in South Jakarta.

Agung said his office would also train the farmers how to
prepare alternative food for their ducks.

"The farmers will be taught how to make use of market garbage,
such as vegetable leftovers and fish heads, in feeding their
ducks," he said.

Up until now, he said, most of the farmers in the capital used
expensive ready-to-eat duck food made of corn, bungkil (soybean)
and dedak (a by-product of rice milling).

"Farmers in North Jakarta will benefit from this program as
they live closer to the fishermen's villages where they can
easily find fish heads," Agung said.

He added that the closing of pig farms in Kapuk, West Jakarta,
would also benefit farmers.

"Pigs used to be the main consumers of market garbage."

The agency, he said, also planned to cut down on time needed
to obtain licenses for farming and animal husbandry businesses,
beginning in March.

"For example, licensees for bull and water buffalo slaughter
houses will be obtainable in only three days, compared to 17 days
as required at the moment, while licenses for sheep slaughter
houses can be collected in just seven days instead of 10 days,"
Agung said.

Time taken to obtain licenses for meat distribution businesses
and butcher shops will be cut down from 40 days to just 15 days,
he said.

"Getting a license for a veterinary clinic will also be faster
-- in 15 days from 25 days as required earlier. The license to
establish an animal drug store will be obtainable in just 10 days
instead of 33 days," he added.

The city administration is also planning to increase the
number of sheep slaughtered daily.

"There are only some 300 sheep slaughtered daily and we are
planning to slaughter at least 750 sheep a day starting from the
end of March," Agung said.

The city currently has three slaughter houses in Tanah Abang,
Central Jakarta, Mampang, South Jakarta, and Pulogadung, East
Jakarta.

Another program launched by the agency aims to free milk cows
from brucellosis (miscarriage) and mastitis (milk breast), said
Agung.

"We hope to decrease the number of infections from the current
rate of 77 percent to 55 percent by the end of February," he
said.

There are some 200 farmers with 4,355 milk cows in Mampang
Prapatan, South Jakarta and Pondok Rangon in East Jakarta.

"Cows infected by brucellosis have to be slaughtered and the
meat is edible under the agency's supervision. However, residents
can't consume the innards," he said.

But, he said, people are not allowed to drink milk from
mastitis-infected cows. (05)