Nana Rukmana, Cirebon – Sugar cane farmers in Cirebon regency, West Java, on Wednesday urged the government to immediately raise the basic price of sugar to prevent a massive loss of jobs in the sector.

The West Java branch of the Sugar Cane Farmers Association (APTRI) said farmers would shift to other crops if the government failed to immediately adjust the basic price of the commodity, thus affecting national sugar production levels.

Another serious threat was the loss of around 30,000 jobs in the industry in the province, it said.

APTRI branch chairman Anwar Asmali deemed the current government-set sugar price of Rp 4,900 (approximately 54 US cents) very low compared to Rp 6,400 per kg on the market.

"With such a price difference, farmers would be disadvantaged. The only ones who would enjoy profits were large-scale distributors," Anwar said.

APTRI has proposed a more appropriate basic price of Rp 5,200 per kg. "With such a price adjustment, farmers' fate could still be saved," he added.

Anwar was concerned that farmers would switch to more profitable crops without the price adjustment. "Subsequently, this would have negative impacts on the national sugar production. Farmers would no longer be interested in growing sugar cane if the price is very low," he said.

The group, Anwar added, would make concerted efforts to pressure the government to immediately raise the price of the commodity.

He acknowledged to have conveyed the matter to Vice President Jusuf Kalla when he visited Cirebon on April 6, 2008. "We appealed to him to sincerely pay attention to the fate of sugar cane farmers, and he promised to look into the matter," Anwar said.

Most farmers would stop growing sugar, he said, if it was no longer profitable, and thousands of sugar cane laborers could lose their jobs.

"Each hectare of sugar cane is usually cultivated by at least three farm workers and the total area of sugar cane farms spans 12,500 ha, so imagine the number of farm workers whose livelihood could be affected," he said.