Soybean import policy reviewed
Soybean import policy reviewed
Rendi A. Witular, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The government and state commodity regulator PT Bulog will revise
the current import policy for soybeans as part of an effort to
protect local farmers and open ways for becoming self-sufficient
in producing the commodity.
Local soybean farmers have been under intense pressure from
the unregulated import policy, which has caused soybean prices to
fluctuate uncontrollably and has caused losses to the farmers,
Bulog president Widjanarko Puspoyo explained.
"We should review the current policy (for soybeans). It is too
unregulated, causing the price of the product to fluctuate. This
condition has caused losses to domestic farmers," he said after
meeting Vice President Jusuf Kalla on Monday.
Widjanarko said that aside from the price problem, the policy
had also opened loopholes for some importers to commit dishonest
practices following the unfavorable mechanism for importing
soybeans, which was deemed to be lacking in transparency.
The government currently has in place an annual import quota
for soybeans at between 900,000 tons and 1.2 million tons. But
due to an apparent lack of transparency in the import procedures,
most importers have been accused of violating that quota.
China and the United States are the main suppliers of soybeans
to Indonesia, Southeast Asia's largest economy.
Local soybean demand is estimated to reach about 2.1 million
tons this year, with domestic farmers only able to produce about
700,000 tons. Soybeans in Indonesia are mostly used to make
tempeh (soy cakes) and tofu.
Based on the country's blueprint for agricultural development,
soybeans -- along with rice, sugar, meat and corn -- are the five
basic commodities that the government hopes to achieve self-
sufficiency in by 2010.
Elsewhere, Widjanarko also said that Bulog would jointly set
up some 1,000 hectares of rice fields in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam
this year with the association of farmers and fishermen and
state-owned seedling producer PT Sang Hyang Sri.
"The rice field development is aimed at fulfilling rice demand
in Aceh. Bulog will buy all rice from the field at a reasonable
price in order to protect local farmers," he said.
The field is expected to be able to produce some seven tons of
rice per hectare, relatively higher compared to the normal yield
of about 4.5 tons per hectare on average in the rest of the
nation.
Aside from the project, Bulog is also trying to help the Aceh
administration expand the availability of other rice fields as
well as increasing their productivity.