Fuel scarcity causes massive lay-offs
Oyos Saroso H.N., The Jakarta Post, Bandarlampung
Yuswandi, 40, a shrimp farm worker, seems bewildered. He and his colleagues have been traveling back and forth between South Lampung and Bandarlampung for the past week expressing their grievances to Lampung legislators. They have not worked for the past month because their employer has had to stop operations due to the shortage of diesel fuel.
Yuswandi is one of the thousands of shrimp farm workers rendered jobless as farm owners have been forced to close down their farms because they could no longer obtain diesel fuel following the fuel price increases.
Diesel fuel is still available at gas stations in Lampung province at the moment. However, small-scale shrimp farmers have to buy it at the industrial price, which is more costly, and furthermore, have to go through complicated bureaucratic procedures to obtain a permit from state oil company Pertamina. Thousands of traditional shrimp farmers in South and East Lampung regencies have been forced to shut down their ponds due to the fuel shortage. Of the hundreds of shrimp farms in South Lampung, only 10 survive. The rest have gone bankrupt.
A shrimp farmer from Padangcermin, Edi Prasetyo, 37, said that his business was on the brink of collapse because he could no longer afford to buy diesel. He said that a 10-hectare farm uses 400 liters to 600 liters of diesel per day.
"Diesel fuel is absolutely essential for an intensive shrimp farm to activate water pumps, water wheels and for lighting, without which it cannot operate," said Edi.
Edi, who employs 50 workers, said that it wasn't just farm workers who were affected by the closures, but also other related businesses, such as the shrimp feed industry and shrimp fry hatcheries. The closures would also have a negative impact on state revenues because 90 percent of the shrimps in Lampung are exported," said Edi.
Marketing manager at the Pertamina depot in Panjang, Bandarlampung, Walijanto, said that his office would issue diesel procurement permits to shrimp farmers at the industrial price to help the farmers overcome the crisis.
The shrimp industry is important to the Lampung economy, providing large revenues for the province. In 2003, the export value for shrimps reached US$141 million, a significant increase compared to the value in 2002 of $72.3 million. In 2004, the export volume of frozen shrimps from Lampung reached 150,000 tons with a total value of $150 million.