Members Of The House Of Representatives Of The PKS Faction Are Concerned About Striking The Production Of Tofu And Tempe Effects Of Soybean Imports

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JAKARTA - Member of Commission IV DPR, Johan Rosihan, asked for quick and appropriate policy steps to address the root causes of the strike action for tofu and tempe producers in various regions.

Johan admitted that he was concerned about the skyrocketing price of soybeans which had a serious impact on the business continuity of thousands of SMEs as well as the production strike of tofu and tempe producers.

According to him, the soybean price hike was caused by dependence on imports and weak local soybean trade management.

"Currently, the government must be aware that dependence on imports has a serious impact on price stability and our food security," Johan said, quoted from Antara, Monday, January 4.

To overcome the current fluctuation of soybean prices, Johan urged to immediately empower local soybean farmers and manage their selling prices so that they are not less competitive with imported products.

The government, he continued, is expected to immediately adopt a soybean price stabilization policy to save the business continuity of tofu and tempe production.

"Especially during this pandemic, there must be a priority to help thousands of small and medium enterprises based on the empowerment of local products so that the national economy will recover quickly," said Johan.

He reminded that the realization of the soybean harvest area during 2020 only reached 40.04 percent of the target set by the government.

For that, he said, the government needs to pay serious attention to local soybean farmers and focus on developing soybean commodity areas, especially the main soybean areas in four provinces, namely East Java with an area of 78,937 ha, Central Java with an area of 39,248 ha, West Java with an area of 37,393 ha and NTB with an area of 30,864 ha.

"I ask the government to immediately take steps to develop the main soybean area covering an area of 127,419 hectares to increase productivity and extend it so that we are no longer dependent on soybean imports," he explained.

Furthermore, Johan urged the government to work hard in 2021 to increase local soybean production because in 2020 the figure for soybean production only reached 0.323 million tonnes, much lower than the previous year.

The production strike carried out by tofu and tempe craftsmen in the Jakarta, Bogor, Tangerang, Depok and Bekasi (Jabodetabek) regions has been going on since Thursday 31 December 2020. The action was triggered by an increase in soybean prices.

Head of the Indonesian Tofu Craftsmen's Sedulur Law Division (SPTI) Fajri Safii in a written statement on Saturday, January 2, said that the production strike had to be carried out considering the soybean price had risen by 35 percent.

According to him, currently the soybean price hike has reached the range of Rp. 9,000 to Rp. 10,000. Meanwhile, the price of soybeans last month, he said, was only in the range of IDR 7,000 to IDR 7,500.