Smuggled imported rice and farmers' fate

Early April, the State Logistics Agency (Bulog) chief, Widjanarko Puspoyo, revealed surprising data on imported rice entering Indonesia. The Bulog chief told reporters that at least 800,000 tons of imported rice or about 60 percent of the total rice imported into Indonesia during the year were not subject to import duties and taxes. This imported rice was allegedly smuggled into Indonesia.

The recent increase in the volume of imported rice has raised questions, moreover how much rice is actually smuggled into the country. Doesn't the government pay attention to the fate of farmers in this country any more? This question is appropriate to raise as the importation of rice in big quantities (including smuggled rice) means the price of the farmers' rice harvests in this country drop. Further, imported rice frequently enters Indonesia during harvesting. The fate of farmers is becoming worse.

In this respect, the statement made by the general chairman of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin), as published by the daily newspaper Suara Karya on April 8, seemingly needs to be pondered over by all officials dealing with imported rice. According to Aburizal Bakrie, continuous imported rice has caused a great concern as the quantities have exceeded the real national demand. The policy has been blamed on impoverishing farmers nationally. One of the policies effective in improving national rice production will be to increase the standard price of unhusked rice. We hope that the advice of the Kadin general chairman is acted on.

-- Suara Karya, Jakarta