Mataram – At least 500 tobacco farmers in East Lombok staged a rally at the West Nusa Tenggara administration office Monday demanding continuity in kerosene subsidy and price hikes in tobacco leaves.

The farmers, members of the Indonesian Farmers Association, were accompanied by hundreds of workers from the Coalition for Workers' Movement.

The protest was triggered by the government's move to stop the supply of subsidized kerosene to the farmers this year. The government is encouraging farmers to switch from kerosene to coal in the tobacco-leaf drying process.

"The policy has disadvantaged us. Now the kerosene subsidy has ceased, the operational costs have sharply increased while the price of tobacco leaves has not," rally coordinator Ahmad Syarif Husein said.