More government incentives urged to boost agribusiness

More government incentives urged to boost agribusiness

JAKARTA (JP): Agribusiness is potentially lucrative but more
incentives are needed to attract investors, the Agribusiness
Agency's head said yesterday.

Ato Suprapto of the Ministry of Agriculture said the
government should provide the same fiscal, monetary and technical
incentives to agribusiness as it did for other sectors.

Such incentives, he said, would encourage further investment
and development of agribusiness.

He said the Agribusiness Agency had taken "strategic steps" to
develop the sector such as providing agribusiness training and
consultancy and holding business seminars.

"We have also encouraged the use of venture capital and
incubator programs," Ato told the Forum for National Consultancy
on Agribusiness Development in Denpasar, Bali.

Ato said monetary policy must simplify procedures for bank
loans at reasonable interest rates to help agribusiness.

Fiscal policies should include exemptions for agribusiness
from income tax, export tax and capital-goods import tax, he
said.

Ato said the country's ability to achieve its national
development goals would depend on how well it adjusted to the
liberalization trends created by the World Trade Organization,
the ASEAN Free Trade Area and Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation
forum.

"Agricultural development will have to focus on commodities
with comparative and competitive advantages which can compete
particularly on the international level," he said. (pwn)