Thousands rampage over scarcity of fertilizer

SEMARANG (JP): Thousands of people in the Central Java town of Blora went on a rampage on Monday evening over the scarcity of fertilizer, leaving at least six people badly injured and dozens of shops and vehicles damaged.

It was reported that some 2,000 people gathered in a downtown area and began to attack and loot shops and houses. "They also vandalized vehicles and traffic lights," Sulaeman, a witness, told The Jakarta Post here on Tuesday.

Police said that five shops selling fertilizers, three electronic stores and eight houses were damaged in the rampage. No arrests have been made. It was also reported that the around 200 police personnel deployed to the scene were outnumbered by the mob.

Soekardi, a regent in Blora, reacted to the tension -- which lasted until Tuesday afternoon -- by appealing to shop owners to sell their fertilizers at the older, cheaper prices.

Chief of the Blora police, Lt. Col. Guritno Sigit, said on Tuesday afternoon that the town was still tense and almost all the shops were closed. He added that groups of people were still seen in various areas of the city.

"Hundreds of security personnel from the Police Mobile Brigade and the local military have been deployed to restore order," he said.

Also on Tuesday, hundreds of farmers from the Djati subdistrict rioted, damaging several kiosks and shops belonging to village cooperatives, because of the scarcity of fertilizer in the market.

Shops and cooperatives have sold fertilizers at sharply higher prices because of scarcity and reported hoarding.

Kompas reported on Tuesday that hundreds of angry farmers forced fertilizer shops to sell their stocks at cheaper prices.

One shop was forced to sell its urea and SP-36 fertilizer stock at between Rp 500 (approximately US$ .07) and Rp 800 per kilogram. The fertilizers were priced between Rp 1,115 and Rp 1,600 per kilogram.

It was reported from Jakarta on Tuesday that beginning on Dec. 12 the government will provide L/C (letter of credit) guarantees to companies intending to import TSP & KCL fertilizers. A Cabinet minister said that this would help meet the domestic need for fertilizer.

The government will provide this assistance because national companies wishing to import fertilizer are having difficulties opening L/Cs in foreign countries, Trade and Industry Minister Rahardi Ramelan said.

Meanwhile, it was reported by Antara that the scarcity of fertilizers and their soaring prices in Central Java could lead to unrest in the regencies of Sragen, Blora, Karanganyar, Grobogan, Brebes and Pati.

Director of the central cooperative of Central Java, Omar Ghani, said at a meeting with the provincial legislative council on Tuesday that fertilizer use in the six regencies accounts for 37 percent of the total 1.2 million metric tons of fertilizer.

"Security authorities need to pay close attention to this issue," he said.

The regencies of Brebes, Grobogan and Pati each need seven percent of the total demand for fertilizer, while Blora and Sragen usually absorb five percent each and Karanganyar six percent, Omar said.

"Distribution in these areas should be maintained and stabilized so that there's never any scarcity, because even now farmers are already worried by the skyrocketing prices," he said. (har/rms/swe)