Special team to decide on import of Indian beef

Special team to decide on import of Indian beef

JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Agriculture Soleh Solahuddin said on
Friday that a decision on whether to import beef and buffalo meat
from India would hinge on the report of a fact-finding team which
will be sent to India later this month.

Soleh said the team would leave for India on Feb. 15 and would
visit sites in Maharastra and the neighboring states.

"The team will be sent to these states because they are
thought to be free of foot-and-mouth disease and rinderpest,"
Soleh said during a hearing with House of Representatives
Commission III for agriculture and food affairs.

"If the team concludes that Indian meat is unhygienic, we will
cancel the plan."

Soleh said the team would be selected from among scholars,
veterinarians, ministry officials and Indonesian Ulemas Council
executives.

Members of the commission criticized the government's plan to
import meat from India, saying that it would carry too great a
risk of introducing contagious diseases and would kill off the
local cattle industry.

Umbu Mehang Kunda, who chairs the commission, said the
government had not examined the full impact of importing the meat
on the economy.

"Policies such as importing eggs and meat run counter to the
government's pledge to develop the local cattle industry," he
said.

Golkar Legislator Elyas said the plan to import meat would
crush local cattle breeders.

"This plan is merely a shortcut which will bring great
difficulty to the local cattle industry," he said.

Elyas acknowledged that the country faced a shortage of meat
during Christmas, New Year, the Ramadhan fasting month and Idul
Fitri, all of which fell during December and January.

"But demand has fallen now that the festivities are over and a
glut in supply caused by importing Indian meat would damage the
local industry," he explained.

The Indonesian Veterinary Association, the Indonesian Meat
Producers and Feedlot Association and the Indonesian Consumer
Foundation have also given their similar criticism and opposition
to the government's plan.

Responding to the criticism, Soleh said the plan would benefit
the poor by increasing the supply of cheap meat in the country.

"So please be objective in this matter and do not intimidate
people with bombastic statements."

Soleh also denied rumors that Indian beef and buffalo meat had
been smuggled into Indonesia through Medan in North Sumatra and
Batam island in Riau.

"I haven't checked the allegations, but so far we don't have
any evidence to support these claims."

Director General of Animal Husbandry Erwin Soetirto said that
only two importers, PT Alana and PT Al Kadir, had applied for a
license to import Indian meat.

"Both firms have agreed to supply cheap beef and buffalo meat
from India. But I don't think that the demand for buffalo meat is
high enough here to make it worth their while."

Soleh said Aurangabad, a regency in Maharastra, exported
buffalo meat to 53 countries, including Malaysia and Brunei.

"Sarawak (in Malaysia) and Brunei share a common border with
Kalimantan. Why hasn't the OIE (an international body concerned
with the study of epidemics in animals) concerned itself with the
possibility of the diseases spreading into Indonesia through
these channels?" he said.

According to the OIE, India has not been declared free of
foot-and-mouth disease and rinderpest, an highly contagious
bovine pleuropneumonia.

The OIE ranks rinderpest, which has a 90 percent mortality
rate, as the most dangerous animal disease in the world.

Indonesia eradicated the disease in 1990 after an outbreak
decimated the country's cattle population in 1987. (gis)