Farmers' Group Urges Governance Reform to Stabilise Chicken Prices

The Perhimpunan Peternak Rakyat Mandiri Indonesia (Permindo) is urging improvements in the governance of feed raw material imports and supply chains to stabilise chicken prices and safeguard the sustainability of smallholder poultry businesses. Permindo Chairman Kusnan stated that the prolonged low live bird prices cannot be explained solely by oversupply. ‘Behind the falling farm-gate prices, there are interconnected structural problems, ranging from the governance of feed raw material imports and liquidity pressures in the feed industry, to the weakening bargaining position of small-scale farmers,’ he said in a statement received in Jakarta on Wednesday. Currently, live bird prices in major production centres range from Rp15,000 to Rp17,000 per kilogram, while the basic cost of production has reached approximately Rp22,000 per kilogram. This situation leaves smallholder farmers with losses of around Rp5,000 to Rp7,000 per kilogram sold, or Rp8,000 to Rp10,000 per bird assuming an average harvest weight of 2 kilograms. Permindo describes the situation as a cost-price squeeze, where rising production costs coincide with falling selling prices, eroding farmers’ margins and threatening the viability of their businesses. Kusnan noted that small-scale farmers are facing not only a chicken price crisis but also a margin crisis driven by uncontrolled increases in feed prices.