Stop making promises, uphold justice for farmers

Stop making promises, uphold justice for farmers

JAKARTA (JP): Chief economic minister Rizal Ramli's promise to
soon increase rice floor-prices rang hollow in some observers'
ears. The earlier policy of lifting rice import restrictions has
left its mark -- thousands of farmers have threatened to stop
planting because of high production costs and poor rice prices
due to the influx of imported rice.

"Within these two weeks we'll have new prices," Rizal said
last Monday. His colleague, agriculture minister Bungaran Saragih
said he did not have any figure in mind to suggest for the new
prices. "What's important is that we have to protect farmers by
increasing import taxes and prevent rice smuggling," he said.

Rizal's promise and Saragih's vow came on the heel of news
reports of farmers' plans to strike, abandon their land and
travel to Jakarta to stage their protest. Many among them have
surrendered and become beggars in the cities, according to some
news reports.

Indonesia is forecast to produce 32 million tones of rice this
year and 53 million tones next year.

A 1998 presidential instruction divides the country into three
pricing regions. Region I covers Java, Bali, West Nusa Tenggara,
and Central, Southeast and South Sulawesi provinces where the
floor-price is Rp 1,400/kg. Region II covers provinces in Sumatra
where the floor-price is Rp 1,450/kg, while Region III covers
Kalimantan, North Sulawesi, Maluku, West Papua (officially called
Irian Jaya) and East Nusa Tenggara where the floor-price is Rp
1,500/kg.

Another promise recently made was of the 28 banks' readiness
to make available credits totaling Rp 2.04 trillion for rice,
corn, soybean, and cassava cultivation, sugar-cane planting and
husbandry. The banks are expected to start channeling the credits
as early as late October, according to agriculture minister
Bungaran Saragih.

But some observers are maintaining their skepticism that the
promised policies would help reverse the declining rice prices.
They insist that there are steps and emergency measures to be
taken to stop the falling prices and soothe frustrated farmers.

"The government is kuping budheg, mata picek (deaf and blind)
to our suffering. The government needs us only when election time
comes around," said a farmer quoted by Republika. "The logistics
agencies refuse to buy our rice the way they used to."

"When our local logistics agency and village cooperative
stopped buying our harvest, the prices dropped drastically. We
have to contend with this, on top of the price increase of other
goods because of the rising fuel price," another farmer said.

The National Logistics Agency (Bulog) defended its refusal on
the fact that it has had to fund the rice purchase with
commercial bank loans with an interest rate of 16 percent.
Bulog's budget for rice purchase is Rp 4.8 trillion, therefore
imposing on itself an interest of Rp 45 billion per month or Rp
1.5 billion per day.

"That's too heavy a burden for us," according to Andi
Chaeruddin, the Bulog deputy chief in charge of operations, as
quoted by the daily.

Observers such as legislator Awal Kusumah and professors Didin
S. Damanhuri and Musa Hubeis of the Bogor Institute of Technology
(IPB) insisted that claims of limited funds could not be
accepted.

"How could the government provide trillions of rupiah to bail
out (indebted) big businesses while claiming it has no money to
help farmers?" Awal said.

H.S. Dillon estimated that if the government purchased the
rice stocks at the standard floor-price of Rp 1,020/kg, it would
need only a total of Rp 6.3 trillion. "Compare this with tens and
even hundreds of trillions allocated to recapitalize bad banks,"
he said as quoted by Republika.

The professors believe that reallocation of some funds--such
as the expected windfall profit from the increasing oil prices as
well as from the revocation of oil subsidies -- would be adequate
to reverse the trend.

Experts have also identified the causes of the declining
prices, which are especially the easing of rice import
restrictions and the influx of illegal rice imports by
unscrupulous people suspected to be within the government
agencies.

"Those people are traitors," said Musa harshly.

The experts have also identified a number of emergency
measures the government should take, including the purchase of
farmers' rice stocks, which will be needed anyway when harvest
seasons conclude. A number of interim solutions have also been
put forward, including the establishment of a division within the
central bank to deal solely with farming credits.

Justice

At the bottom of the experts' analysis and suggestions is the
belief that what's lacking in the current government is a sense
of justice for everyone. A fairness for, especially, the small
and downtrodden.

This sentiment is shared by many, including legislators Awal
Kusumah and Achmad Arief. "The government's decision to bail out
big businesses is unfair. This government is caring for the big
businesses. We demand similar attention for farmers and
fishermen," Awal said as quoted recently by Antara.

The government should also "bail out" the farmers and purchase
their stocks, if possible over the floor-price, he insisted.
"(Remember) farmers make up the most part of the Indonesian
workforce," he said.

Unless help is extended, some of the observers are afraid that
the farmers would simply throw their ploughs away and stop
working. Or worse, as one observer put it, organize themselves
and revolt.

-- Santi W.E. Soekanto