Oyos Saroso H.N., Gunungsugih, Central Lampung – Farmers in Lampung are clamoring for a higher base price for unhusked rice to compensate for the soaring price of fertilizer.
The price of rice now ranges from between Rp 1,025 (US 11 cents) and Rp 1,100 per kilogram in the districts of Gunungsugih, Bandarjaya and Seputih Rahman, Central Lampung and local farmers are in a quandary whether or not to carry on their loss-making farm business.
Subawa, 40, chairman of Central Lampung's Sri Munggah Farmers Group, recently confirmed the unfavorable situation. He pointed out that, excluding labor costs, the cost of fertilizer and other materials had doubled, so the government price should at least be at the same level.
In areas with transportation difficulties, like Rawajitu in Tanggamus regency, farmers had to sell their unhusked rice at only Rp 850 per kilogram, compared to the previous price of between Rp 1,400 and Rp 1,500 per kilogram.
Although this year's harvests have been sporadic and not bumper yields, a lot of farmers have found it hard to make ends meet. Riswandi, 51, a Bandarjaya farmer, claimed to be unable to manage his field and to have barely enough money for his children's education, Sarkam from Palas, South Lampung, could no longer afford to support his family properly.
Ramli, 31, a Trimurjo farmer in Central Lampung, said he spent Rp 2 million on seedlings, fertilizers and processing costs per hectare, which produced only five tons of wet unhusked rice with a gross profit of just Rp 3 million, which was meant to support him and his family for three months.
Ramli admitted he had no more money to grow paddy in the coming season because he would need at least four quintals of fertilizers worth Rp 430,000 and would have to pay handtractor operation fees as high as Rp 250,000 per hectare and buy more seedlings.
The unhusked rice price crash in Lampung's paddy production centers is inseparable from actions taken by the local middlemen, who monopolize the trade at the expense of the provincial logistics depot.
This group prevents external wholesale traders from contacting farmers directly and threatens not to buy from farmers who sell their products to other parties.
Suroto, 40, a rice mill owner in Abipura village, Trimurjo, also has to buy between three and four tons of unhusked rice every day from the mafia at Rp 1,100 per kilogram. Other buyers from Palembang, South Sumatra, and Bengkulu have to face the same group of local middlemen.
Meanwhile, Achmad Suryatna, head of the agriculture ministry's food resilience agency, indicated the government was preparing to advance Rp 170 billion to anticipate a further price plunge in the bumper harvest season of 2003, which has been approved by the House of Representatives.
The fund will be allocated to rice-growing regions in Indonesia through local administrations to finance the purchase of rice by cooperatives or rice mills from farmers at a government fixed price.
He said the average price of unhusked rice during the January to June period, as shown by the Central Board of Statistics, was Rp 1,519 per kilogram, still higher than the official floor price, though he admitted in some areas the price was lower due to off-season harvests.
A central government team is evaluating the present floor price, while the domestic price has also been maintained by imposing rice import duties.