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)