Indef Survey Reveals Fuel Is The Main Problem For Indonesian Fishermen

Director of the Institute for Development of Economic and Finance (Indef) Tauhid Ahmad. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - Director of the Institute for Development of Economic and Finance (Indef) Tauhid Ahmad said that fuel oil (BBM) is still a major problem for Indonesian fishermen to survive in carrying out their economic activities.

This conclusion was drawn from the results of a survey by Indef with several institutions on 5,292 traditional fishermen in 20 cities in 10 provinces. This survey was conducted on April 1, 2021.

"The problem is that 82 percent of respondents have difficulty accessing fuel, then 21 percent have difficulty accessing the market and 2 percent have difficulty accessing financing," said Tauhid in a discussion with the media, Wednesday, March 8.

He revealed, if 62 percent of respondents admitted that it was difficult to access administration, it was difficult to access service administration for fuel access.

According to him, this situation is a critical issue in favor of the government in channeling energy subsidies more precisely on target.

"This is a serious and critical issue regarding the government's side. The government subsidizes fishermen and how far the subsidies can reduce the burden on fishermen," continued Tauhid.

Executive Secretary of the National Team for the Acceleration of Poverty Reduction (TNP2K), Suprayoga Hadi revealed, a number of challenges in the LPG subsidy policy for fishermen include subsidies that are still given to commodities so that there is still a price disparity.

"Then the constraints on the monitoring system need to be strengthened. The conversion of kerosene to LPG in 2007 initially went well, but due to ineffective supervision, subsidized LPG users swelled," he said.

According to him, it is necessary to decide on the purpose of providing subsidies to fishermen, whether for the productivity of fishermen or as an instrument for increasing welfare.

"If the goal is to increase productivity, then it is given to fishermen regardless of welfare level. If the goal is as an instrument for the welfare of poor fishermen, then available integrated data can be used, such as P3KE or Targeting the Acceleration of Extreme Poverty Elimination," said Hadi.

And the final challenge is that the P3KE data has a variable type of fisherman's work but does not have a boat ownership variable.

"There is a variable, but there is no ship ownership. At least from a job status perspective, there is one so we can identify the number of fishermen," he concluded.