Govt to subsidize feed meal

Govt to subsidize feed meal

JAKARTA (JP): The government has decided to allocate Rp 1.6
trillion (US$160 million) to help stabilize feed meal prices in
the domestic market, an official at the Ministry of Agriculture
said last week.

The head of the ministry's agribusiness department, Ato
Suprapto, said the subsidy was indirectly targeted to help
floundering small and medium poultry farmers to survive the
monetary crisis.

The allocated funds will be used to purchase raw material of
feed, such as corn and wheat pollard, which will then be resold
to feed meal producers at normal prices, Ato said.

Feed meal prices have been skyrocketing in the past four
months and have forced most of the country's poultry farmers into
bankruptcy.

The sharp increase prices was caused mainly by the rising
prices of its imported raw materials due to the rupiah's sharp
depreciation against the U.S. dollar.

Meanwhile, the chairman of the Feedmeal Producers Association,
Budiarto Soebianto, said that over 70 percent of the country's
poultry producers have closed their businesses because of the
prolonged monetary crisis.

"Unless something is done immediately, it is feared that many
feed mills will cease production because they can no longer find
a sufficient number of buyers," he said. (gis)