Ombudsman: Even Without The Import Of Rice, The Life Of Farmers Is Still Far From Prosperous, Earning Only Rp150 Thousand Per Month

Illustration. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - The polemic of importing 1 million tons of rice this year has drawn criticism. In fact, there are also those who think that this import will make domestic farmers even poorer. The Ombudsman of the Republic of Indonesia said that even without imports, the life of farmers is far from prosperous.

Ombudsman member Yela Hendra Fatika said referring to the 2013 census data for farmers conducted by the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) in 2013, the average land entrepreneur per farm household in the country is only about 0.66 hectares. This census is conducted every 10 years.

Furthermore, he said, when compared to rice fields in the country with soccer fields, there is still a bigger football field. Land ownership is an indicator in seeing the welfare of farmers in the country.

Referring to the food crop cost structure survey data released by BPS 2017, the income received by rice farmers per hectare of planting is IDR 4.95 million per planting season or around IDR 1.25 million per month. This calculation assumes there are 3 growing seasons in a year.

"And the data said earlier that on average our rice farmers own 0.66 hectares. So what does that mean? That the farmers' income per month is not more than Rp. 800 thousand. So this is very sad again," he said in a virtual press conference, Wednesday. , March 24th.

The farmer's income per month is only IDR 150 thousand

However, said Yeka, if it was further dissected, it was found that 60 percent of rice farmers only had 1,000 square meters of planted land. With this calculation, on average, 60 percent of farmers have an income of less than IDR 150 thousand per month.

"Earlier, 0.66 hectares were the overall average area. If we do another analysis, it turns out that our 13.16 million farmers only control 1,000 square meters of land. What does that mean? Rp150 thousand per month," he said.

Referring to the data above, said Yeka, it can be concluded that Indonesia's rice production is dominated by small farmers who have narrow land.

"The land is narrow, the land is limited, it must be demotivating. It is difficult for us to teach them about efficiency because the land is narrow for whatever reason," he said.

The price of unhulled rice is doubled, which does not make farmers prosperous

Yeka said that even if the price of unhulled rice was doubled, the majority of domestic farmers would still not be able to say that their lives were prosperous. Because their income only increased by IDR 150 thousand per month.

Furthermore, Yeka gave a parable that if the domestic minimum wage increases every year, the income of rice farmers is only that much. One of them is because of the narrow land ownership.

"So what can I say? Because someone said that our rice farmers are poor, not prosperous because of the polemic on rice imports. I want to convey, even if the price of unhulled rice has doubled, 60 percent of our farmers have only increased their income from Rp150 thousand to Rp. Rp. 300 thousand per month, "he said.

Increasing the welfare of farmers must be in terms of increasing the scale of the business

Yeka said, to improve the welfare of farmers, not only by increasing the price of grain but also increasing the planting area for rice farmers.

Furthermore, Yeka said, domestic rice production is produced by farmers with an average age above 50 years and 63 percent of whose education has not graduated from junior high school.

"The right instrument in increasing farmers' welfare is not an increase in prices but an increase in business scale or land area. So apologize to the figures who are concerned about the problem of falling rice prices (due to import issues). prosperous, "he said.