Farmers in limbo over falling price

Farmers in limbo over falling price

Oyos Saroso H.N., The Jakarta Post, Gunungsugih, Central Lampung

Farmers in Lampung are clamoring for a higher base price for
unhusked rice to compensate for the soaring price of fertilizer.

The price of rice now ranges from between Rp 1,025 (U.S. 11
cents) and Rp 1,100 per kilogram in the districts of Gunungsugih,
Bandarjaya and Seputih Rahman, Central Lampung and local farmers
are in a quandary whether or not to carry on their loss-making
farm business.

Subawa, 40, chairman of Central Lampung's Sri Munggah Farmers
Group, recently confirmed the unfavorable situation. He pointed
out that, excluding labor costs, the cost of fertilizer and other
materials had doubled, so the government price should at least be
at the same level.

In areas with transportation difficulties, like Rawajitu in
Tanggamus regency, farmers had to sell their unhusked rice at
only Rp 850 per kilogram, compared to the previous price of
between Rp 1,400 and Rp 1,500 per kilogram.

Although this year's harvests have been sporadic and not
bumper yields, a lot of farmers have found it hard to make ends
meet. Riswandi, 51, a Bandarjaya farmer, claimed to be unable to
manage his field and to have barely enough money for his
children's education, Sarkam from Palas, South Lampung, could no
longer afford to support his family properly.

Ramli, 31, a Trimurjo farmer in Central Lampung, said he spent
Rp 2 million on seedlings, fertilizers and processing costs per
hectare, which produced only five tons of wet unhusked rice with
a gross profit of just Rp 3 million, which was meant to support
him and his family for three months.

Ramli admitted he had no more money to grow paddy in the
coming season because he would need at least four quintals of
fertilizers worth Rp 430,000 and would have to pay handtractor
operation fees as high as Rp 250,000 per hectare and buy more
seedlings.

The unhusked rice price crash in Lampung's paddy production
centers is inseparable from actions taken by the local middlemen,
who monopolize the trade at the expense of the provincial
logistics depot.

This group prevents external wholesale traders from contacting
farmers directly and threatens not to buy from farmers who sell
their products to other parties.

Suroto, 40, a rice mill owner in Abipura village, Trimurjo,
also has to buy between three and four tons of unhusked rice
every day from the mafia at Rp 1,100 per kilogram. Other buyers
from Palembang, South Sumatra, and Bengkulu have to face the same
group of local middlemen.

Meanwhile, Achmad Suryatna, head of the agriculture ministry's
food resilience agency, indicated the government was preparing to
advance Rp 170 billion to anticipate a further price plunge in
the bumper harvest season of 2003, which has been approved by the
House of Representatives.

The fund will be allocated to rice-growing regions in
Indonesia through local administrations to finance the purchase
of rice by cooperatives or rice mills from farmers at a
government fixed price.

He said the average price of unhusked rice during the January
to June period, as shown by the Central Board of Statistics, was
Rp 1,519 per kilogram, still higher than the official floor
price, though he admitted in some areas the price was lower due
to off-season harvests.

A central government team is evaluating the present floor
price, while the domestic price has also been maintained by
imposing rice import duties.