ID :
27625
Fri, 10/31/2008 - 01:17
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http://m.oananews.org//node/27625
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DEKOPIN REGRETS GOVT'S LACK OF ATTENTION TO OIL PALM FRUIT PRICE FALL
Jakarta, Oct 30 (ANTARA) - The Indonesian Cooperatives Council (Dekopin) has regretted the government's attitude which leaves the impression that it gives priority to big capital owners rather than oil palm farmers who are suffering from the fall of their commodity prices to Rp250 per kg.
Dekopin General Chairman Adi Sasono said here on Thursday that the government should have taken action for oil palm farmers similar to those it had taken for big businessmen when it protected them from the fall of their share prices in the stock market.
What the government has done with regard to the fall of oil palm fruit prices was to cut crude palm oil (CPO) export tax to nil percent. The government made the decision only last Tuesday and would be effective as of November 1, 2008.
Sasono said that the policy virtually could boost exports but would only benefit businessmen, not small farmers.
"The export tax has been reduced but it does not happen that businessmen have been purchasing farmers' oil palm fruits," he said.
He said that there was an impression that the government did not care for the price fall and had no care for the fate of farmers whose number was far bigger than that of big businessmen.
When stock prices fell the government prepared trillions of rupiah and mobilized state-owned companies to buy back their shares while providing a guarantee for rich people with bank deposits, he said.
But when the price of oil palm fruits fell drastically whose impact was felt by millions of farmers the government did nothing, he added.
The Dekopin chairman said that the government could actually set a price for oil palm fruit bunches (TBS) at between Rp550 and Rp600 per kg. And then the government bought the TBS for further processing into biofuel.
Meanwhile, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono told the press last Tuesday that the government had decided to direct CPO (crude palm oil) industries to concentrate on supplying the domestic market in view of the current slump in CPO world market price.
"We ask the Energy and Mineral Resources Minister and Pertamina to immediately take concrete steps. There must be no gap between the decision which we have been taken and its implementation in the field," the president said. ***2***
Dekopin General Chairman Adi Sasono said here on Thursday that the government should have taken action for oil palm farmers similar to those it had taken for big businessmen when it protected them from the fall of their share prices in the stock market.
What the government has done with regard to the fall of oil palm fruit prices was to cut crude palm oil (CPO) export tax to nil percent. The government made the decision only last Tuesday and would be effective as of November 1, 2008.
Sasono said that the policy virtually could boost exports but would only benefit businessmen, not small farmers.
"The export tax has been reduced but it does not happen that businessmen have been purchasing farmers' oil palm fruits," he said.
He said that there was an impression that the government did not care for the price fall and had no care for the fate of farmers whose number was far bigger than that of big businessmen.
When stock prices fell the government prepared trillions of rupiah and mobilized state-owned companies to buy back their shares while providing a guarantee for rich people with bank deposits, he said.
But when the price of oil palm fruits fell drastically whose impact was felt by millions of farmers the government did nothing, he added.
The Dekopin chairman said that the government could actually set a price for oil palm fruit bunches (TBS) at between Rp550 and Rp600 per kg. And then the government bought the TBS for further processing into biofuel.
Meanwhile, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono told the press last Tuesday that the government had decided to direct CPO (crude palm oil) industries to concentrate on supplying the domestic market in view of the current slump in CPO world market price.
"We ask the Energy and Mineral Resources Minister and Pertamina to immediately take concrete steps. There must be no gap between the decision which we have been taken and its implementation in the field," the president said. ***2***
