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