Farmers Union Urges Government To Set New Soybean Purchase Price

Jakarta, Sept 19 (Antara) - The Indonesian Farmers Union (SPI) has urged the government to set the government purchase price (HPP) of local soybean at Rp8,500 a kg as part of its efforts to stabilise the prices. "The government must set a new purchase price since the present price of Rp7,000 a kg is not beneficial," said Achmad Yakub, SPI chairman of national strategic studies, on Thursday. The soybean production cost rose to Rp6,500,000 per hectare, from Rp5,600,000 per hectare, after the government raised the prices of subsidised fuel oils last June, he added. "We want the government to raise the purchase price to Rp8,500 a kg so that soybean farmers can reap sufficient profits," he noted. He also urged the government to allow farmers to plant soybean on idle land that is under the control of large-scale companies so as to reduce the price of the farm commodity. "Give farmers access to idle land, which may belong to either state forestry company PT Perhutani or private companies. SPI members in Rokan Hilir, South Sumatra, have been successfully planting a variety of crops on 1,529 hectares of idle land owned by state plantation company PTPN VII since 2011," he pointed out. Agronomic expert Didik Indradewa, at Yogyakarta-based Gadjah Mada University, said recently that shrinking farmlands are the leading cause of the current soybean crisis in Indonesia. "Indonesia needs at least two million hectares of farmland to meet the domestic demand for soybean," he said. Indonesia produced 1.6 million tonnes of soybean in 1992. The figure declined steadily, and today, Indonesia produces 800 thousand tonnes of soybean in a year. Soybean prices soared to around Rp9,100 per kg from Rp7,000 per kg a few weeks ago, amid the threat of a poor harvest in the US and the weakening of the rupiah against the dollar. The soaring soybean prices have taken a toll on tempe and tofu factories, with tens of thousands of them forced to put their businesses on hold.