Fuel scarcity causes massive lay-offs

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.