Rescue the farmers!

Rescue the farmers!

Indonesian farmers, especially those in the East, Central and
West Java, have been facing disasters such as floods and plant
diseases which destroy their crops. More than 40,000 hectares of
crops have failed. Another "disaster" is the fact that rice
prices drop at every harvest because the supply exceeds the
demand.

Due to the above, the farmers can be expected to have a
difficult time this year. So the government's forming of a task
force to buy all harvested rice, whatever the quality, is a
reasonable move. It would be even wiser if the government
refrains from collecting property taxes from the farmers this
year.

In the past the agricultural sector has subsidized the
industrial sector in the cities. It is now time to rescue the
farmers from their suffering by reversing the mechanism. The
industrial sector must return the favor and subsidize the
agricultural sector in villages in view of the fact that most of
Indonesia's population lives in rural areas.

--Kompas, Jakarta