Chili Import Will Hurt Farmers

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Dadi Sudiana, chairman of the Indonesian Association of Chili Pepper Agribusiness, asked the government to review the plan to import chili as the country is entering a harvest season from April to May this year. "Sticking with the imports plan means that the government only protects consumers without any regards to the farmers' fate," Dadi told Tempo last weekend.

He hopes the government will cancel the imports plan, as it would hurt rural farmers. He said that the price hike of chili—that occurred some time ago—was caused by uncertain climate conditions. As an impact, farmers are expected only able to produce about 800,000 tons of chili this year. In normal conditions, Indonesian chili farmers are able to produce about 1.1 million tons per year.

Dadi said that conditions are now back to normal. The farm price of chili peppers is around Rp17,000 to Rp18,000 per kilogram, while the market price ranges between Rp30,000 to Rp35,000 per kilogram.

Chili production is actually quite abundant in rural areas. However, distributions are hampered by transportation problems. In several areas like Kediri and its surroundings, the recent eruption of Mount Kelud also impacted the production of chili.

Dadi hopes that the government will provide a thorough solution for these problems, suggesting several ways including "rural infrastructure development and provision of agro-inputs such as capital and seed."

Last week in Jakarta, a number of ministries held a coordination meeting. It resulted in the announcement of price increases for several types of crops. One of the highest increases is for red chili peppers, which jumped by 400 percent. The announcement had raised the discourse to reopen chili imports.

Bachrul Chairi, director of foreign trade at the Ministry of Trade, said that an import permit will be issued to suppress the price of chili pepper that had almost reached Rp100,000 per kilogram.

The plan, Bachrul said, has not been realized because it is difficult to find chili pepper producing countries that have greater supply than Indonesia.

A similar thing was expressed by Sukoco, chairman of the Indonesian Association of Chili Pepper Agribusiness of East Java. Sukoco said that the government should not sacrifice farmers. The Trade Ministry as the import-licensing regulator, he said, should coordinate with the Agriculture Ministry, who supposedly has better data on agricultural commodities.

FAIZ NASHRILLAH | AYU PRIMA SANDI | ANANDA PUTRI