ID :
24724
Wed, 10/15/2008 - 20:59
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Shortlink :
http://m.oananews.org//node/24724
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OIL PALM FRUIT PRICE IN JAMBI DROPS DRASTICALLY
Jambi, Indonesia, Oct 15 (ANTARA) - The impact of the US financial crisis has driven down the price of fresh oil palm fruit bunches (TBS) from about Rp1,800 - Rp2,400 last month to about Rp300 - Rp400 per kg now, farmers said.
"We have stopped harvesting our oil palm fruit since this week. It is useless for us to spend time and energy on harvesting the fruit because it will only lead us to losses as a result of the unbelievably deep fall in TBS prices," palm oil farmer Azhar said.
Azhar, an oil palm farmer living in a transmigration resettlement in Sungai Bahar, Muarojambi district, said high production costs such as high fertilizer price did not match the selling price.
He said that the price of oil palm TBS per kg at the farmers' level in September last month was recorded at between Rp1,800 and Rp2,400.
The drop in the price of oil palm fruit has caused production to pile up in Jambi because it could not be put on the market. A number of oil palm factories which produced crude palm oil (CPO) found it difficult to market the product abroad.
"CPO is an export commodity so that it is affected by the impact of the global financial crisis in the world market," Jambi Governor Zulkifli Nurdin said.
Therefore, the regional government of Jambi is trying to take anticipatory steps in an effort to prevent TBS over production that would disadvantage farmers.
The governor had ordered the chief of Jambi's Plantation Service to take steps and coordinate with all district heads or CPO exporters.
It was previously reported that thousands of farmers in Rokan Hulu (Rohul) district, Riau province in Sumatra, were also leaving their oil palm fruit unharvested, letting it rotten on the shaft as a result of sharp fall in the prices of the export commodity.
"About 60 percent of farmers who tend to 118,000 hectares of oil palm plantations in Rohul now do not harvest their oil palm fruit as oil palm fruit has now fallen to Rp250 per kilogram," H Erdiman Daulay, chairman of the Indonesian Oil Palm Assication, said.
"We have stopped harvesting our oil palm fruit since this week. It is useless for us to spend time and energy on harvesting the fruit because it will only lead us to losses as a result of the unbelievably deep fall in TBS prices," palm oil farmer Azhar said.
Azhar, an oil palm farmer living in a transmigration resettlement in Sungai Bahar, Muarojambi district, said high production costs such as high fertilizer price did not match the selling price.
He said that the price of oil palm TBS per kg at the farmers' level in September last month was recorded at between Rp1,800 and Rp2,400.
The drop in the price of oil palm fruit has caused production to pile up in Jambi because it could not be put on the market. A number of oil palm factories which produced crude palm oil (CPO) found it difficult to market the product abroad.
"CPO is an export commodity so that it is affected by the impact of the global financial crisis in the world market," Jambi Governor Zulkifli Nurdin said.
Therefore, the regional government of Jambi is trying to take anticipatory steps in an effort to prevent TBS over production that would disadvantage farmers.
The governor had ordered the chief of Jambi's Plantation Service to take steps and coordinate with all district heads or CPO exporters.
It was previously reported that thousands of farmers in Rokan Hulu (Rohul) district, Riau province in Sumatra, were also leaving their oil palm fruit unharvested, letting it rotten on the shaft as a result of sharp fall in the prices of the export commodity.
"About 60 percent of farmers who tend to 118,000 hectares of oil palm plantations in Rohul now do not harvest their oil palm fruit as oil palm fruit has now fallen to Rp250 per kilogram," H Erdiman Daulay, chairman of the Indonesian Oil Palm Assication, said.
