Prices Drop, Farmers In Boyolali Hold Carrot Selling Actions To Pay Sincerely

PHOTO VIA BETWEEN

BOYOLALI - Dozens of vegetable commodity farmers from the slopes of Mount Merbabu and Merapi in Selo District, Boyolali Regency, Central Java, held an action to sell the price of their carrot harvest to the community at a sincere price.

Dozens of farmers from Selo Boyolali with six pickup trucks brought 5 tons of carrot harvest to sell at genuine prices because they were annoyed that the price of carrots at the farmer level had dropped from Rp. 5,000/kg to Rp. 1,000/kg.

Widodo (40), a vegetable farmer from Selo Boyolali Sub-district, said that this was done to respond to the low price of carrots at the farm level due to the recent arrival of carrots from outside the region in Java.

There were 30 carrot farmers from Selo District who came with six pickup trucks, one car filled with loudspeakers and the other five filled with carrots. Over loudspeakers, they chanted selling their carrots for free.

The farmers did not hold demonstrations, but they sold carrots they harvested on the slopes of Mount Merapi and Merbabu in Selo District. Because the current price of carrots in the market is only Rp. 1,000/kg, so they jointly sell them to Boyolali City at the sincere price.

"We brought 5 tons of carrots to sell in front of the Boyolali Food Security Office so that we would immediately respond and find a solution," he said, quoted by Antara, Wednesday, February 23.

In fact, the farmers from the slopes of Mount Merapi and Merbabu also carried various banners that were stretched with the words, among others, "Instead of cheap didol, Luwih Becik Digawe Sodakoh" (Rather than being sold cheap, it is better to give alms), "Carrot Farmers Call Selo" , and "Save Farmers Selo".

He said the price of carrots could only be sold for Rp. 1,000 to Rp. 1,500/kg. In fact, the normal price ranges from Rp. 4,000 to Rp. 5,000/kg. Even though carrots are only sold at a low price, farmers still find it difficult to sell the crops that are their daily livelihood.

Meanwhile, the Head of the Boyolali Food Security Agency, Joko Suhartono, said that the action was held because the carrot farmers asked the government to be present to help sell their crops so that the selling price was higher than the current price of Rp. 1,000/kg to Rp. 1,500 and that middlemen did not want to buy. .

In fact, the quality of the farmers' carrots in Selo is still better than that of Brastagi carrots. The middlemen actually buy Brastagi carrots from outside Central Java.

However, the Boyolali Food Security Service is ready to provide assistance if farmers need it after production. If the harvest is sold via the web, it is ready to provide information with other regions, that Boyolali is a carrot center area for example.

"We are ready if farmers need post-production assistance," said Joko.

After being satisfied with expressing their complaints in front of the Food Security Service Office, then continuing the action to the Boyolali City Alert intersection, a number of road users had stopped to buy carrots at sincere prices.

The action, which was closely guarded by the Boyolali Police and TNI officers, then dispersed in an orderly manner.