Government offers loans to silkworm farmers
Government offers loans to silkworm farmers
JAKARTA (JP): The government is providing revolving funds to support silk development, which will help conserve forests and eradicate poverty, Minister of Forestry Djamaludin Suryohadikusumo said yesterday.
"We provide the funds as credits through the state-owned Bank Rakyat Indonesia and Bank Pemerintah Daerah for cooperatives to buy cocoons produced by farmers," the minister told the press shortly after installing new executives of the Association of Natural Silk at his office.
Harnanto Harno Martosiswojo of the state company Perum Perhutani is the newly elected chairman of the association and Nursidin of the Ministry of Forestry is secretary-general.
Djamaludin said that state-owned companies will also provide up to 5 percent of their net profits for assisting small-and- medium enterprises operating in silk production.
Furthermore, he added, the World Bank also provides capital assistance for small enterprises dealing in natural silk development as Indonesia is included in the 100 countries whose per capita income is under US$4,000.
Indonesia's current per capita income is about $920.
Djamaludin said that the country has tropical rain forests suitable for silkworms.
Cocoon
He explained that some parts of West Java, West Sumatra and South Sulawesi, for example, have conducive climate and environment for mulberry farming, the tree whose leaves silkworms eat.
"By providing the credits, we expect that silk processors can procure cocoon farmers' products at a harvest period," said Djamaludin.
He acknowledged that besides a lack of capital, the natural silk industry also encounters a problem of poor quality silk due to the absence of good mulberry seedlings and a lack of experts in cocoons.
The ministry's director general of forest preservation, Hendarsun Suryasanusiputra, said that the association will employ a cocoon expert from Rumania to teach Indonesian farmers about highly developed techniques of cocoon production.
"Rumanian experts are highly qualified but their fees are lower than those of Koreans and Chinese," said Hendarsun, the outgoing chairman of the association.
Hendarsun also said that the country's production of natural silk threads reached only 180 tons per annum, while its demand is about 500 tons.
"So we import some 320 tons of silk thread every year from China, India, Thailand, Uzbekistan and Brazil," said Hendarsun.
He said that for every four boxes or 100 kilograms of silkworm eggs, one hectare of mulberry trees is needed, and from this 900 hundred kilograms of cocoons would be produced.(kod)