The soaring price of soy got tofu
and tempe makers into trouble some were even on strike for lowered price by
stopping to produce tofu and tempe, but the bliss behind the restless price of
soy was that soy growers were getting zealous about planting soy.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Suswono
in Jakarta on Monday (10/9) stated that the increased price of soy motivated
farmers to grow soy, therefore the present farmers’ price of soy Rp 7,000/kg
must be maintained.
Moreover in some production centers
of soy like Kebumen, the potential of soy production was fairly good, i.e. 2.4
tons/ha. Survey data had it that the average productivity today was posted at
2.5 ton to 4 ton/ha; meaning plantation yields was fairly good, i.e. 1.3 – 1.4
tons/ha. “From research outcome it is visible that plantation yields of soy is
potential enough for development” Suswono said.
Based on productivity calculation of
at least 2 tons/ha alone and soy price at Rp 7,000/kg, farmers would receive
earnings of Rp 14 million/ha. Meaning of production cost was Rp 2 million,
growth could make profit of Rp 2 million/ha. “Hence, at the price of Rp
7,000/kg soy cultivation business would be competitive against corn” Minister
Suswono was quoted as saying.
The Government was aware that soy
business still had to compete with corn, because the two commodities were
planted on the same land. Therefore, in order to be self-supporting in soy more
space was needed. To procure more land, the Ministry had promised to procure
extra land covering 500 thousand ha.
“With just two more years left we
would maximize effort to meet the target of self supporting in soy. Moreover
price of soy was sufficiently good and there was commitment from the Ministry
of Forestry to procure land”.
Moreover Indonesia had the
experience of self supporting in soy in 1992. At that time there was protection
by the Government, i.e. price incentive by setting soy price at 1.5 times the
price of soy. In addition to that the Government through Bulog acted as
sustainer of farmer’s price of soy.
Ever since the incentive was non
existent and price was no longer stimulating to farmers, production of soy
dropped drastically from the previous 1.5 million tons to the present 800
thousand tons. “So one of the stimulators to increase production was attractive
price”.
Business News - September 14, 2012
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