Chicken Farmers Reject Jokowi’s Subsidized Corn, What’s Up?

Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) in mid-September invited national breeders to the Jakarta Presidential Palace.

On that occasion, the farmers complained that the price of corn feed continued to soar. They screamed, because they suffered huge losses.

At that time, the Head of State immediately ordered his staff to deal with this. Jokowi wants the issue of corn feed prices to be resolved soon,

The instructions were then followed up. The Ministry of Agriculture has sent subsidized corn for Rp 4,500 per kilo gram (kg) to the Blitar Chicken Farmer Cooperative so that the availability of chicken feed is affordable.

However, the corn has a moisture content of 25-29%, while the standard moisture content of corn suitable for chicken feed is only 15%. The farmers admitted that they received the corn in wet conditions.

“With wet conditions, farmers are afraid to take it,” said Chairman of the National Laying Pinsar Yudianto Yosgiarso, in a written statement, Saturday (2/10/2021).

Although some are wet, this is part of building partnerships and trust between the combined farmer groups and farmers.

Yudianto asked the government’s commitment to prepare 30,000 tons of corn to be realized immediately. Currently, he continued, farmers are still having trouble finding feed from corn, even though the price is Rp 5,300-Rp 5,700 per kg.

For information, Yudianto himself is one of the breeders who attended the meeting with Jokowi some time ago.

The government through the Ministry of Trade and the Ministry of SOEs has assigned Perum Bulog to supply 30,000 tons of corn feed to smallholder farmers at a price that is in line with the Government Reference Price (HAP), which is IDR 4,500 per kg.

Chairman of the Association of People’s Breeders of the Archipelago, Alvino Antonio said that the problem of poultry feed is not because of the absence of corn, but the high price of corn.

The price circulating in the market does not match the reference price of Minister of Trade Regulation (Permendag) 7/2020, which is Rp. 4,500. Alvino and the farmers questioned the surplus of corn which was not in line with the price in the market which remained high.

“In addition, smallholder farmers lose because the selling price of their eggs in cages is around 14,500-15,000 per kg, while their HPP is because the price of corn is in the range of 6,000-6,200 per kg, then HPP for smallholders is at 21,000 per kg, so farmers bear losses between 6,000-6,000. 7,000 per kg,” he said.

[Gambas:Video CNBC]

(Cha Cha dance)

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