Cak Imin Promises To Fix The Hulu-Hilir Fisheries Sector

Vice President Muhaimin Iskandar in Tulungagung/ANTARA PHOTO/Desyan Sujarwoko)

TULUNGAGUNG - Candidate for vice president Abdul Muhaimin Iskandar promised to fix the fisheries sector from upstream to downstream, including in terms of marketing so that fishermen and freshwater fish cultivators are more empowered and prosperous.

This was conveyed by the pair of presidential and vice presidential candidates number 01 when they met a thousand freshwater cultivators in Tulungagug Regency, East Java, Thursday, January 25.

"God willing, if we are selected downstream from the production point to the consumers, we will take good care of it so that it will benefit freshwater cultivators, which are very large in number (in Indonesia)," said Cak Imin after signing a political contract with hundreds of freshwater fish cultivators in Tulungagung Regency, reported by ANTARA.

The campaign for the Vice Presidential Candidate pair Anis Rasyid Baswedan was held at a freshwater fish cultivation center located in Wates Village, Sumbergempol District, Tulungagung.

The meeting was used by raw water fish cultivators in Tulungagung Regency to convey a number of aspirations related to the various problems they face related to the continued increase in feed prices, the uncertainty of postharvest fish sellers, the unstable quality of feed products to the lack of government support in marketing local fish products.

"We entrust some of the first aspirations to encourage the need to reduce production costs. The biggest cost in fish production is feed," said a representative of freshwater fish cultivators, Muklason.

Currently, Tulungagung freshwater fish cultivators are able to produce around 1,000 tons of fish per month. The fish consists of various types, ranging from catfish, catfish to various types of ornamental fish.

According to him, the problem is that the increase in feed prices is not proportional to the increase in the selling price of fish to the market.

He gave an example in 2012 the feed price in 2012 was around Rp220 per sack and is currently rising to Rp350 thousand/sak.

Not only that, his party also complained about the quality of factory fish feed which experienced a decline in quality.

"Meanwhile, the price of patin fish used to be Rp. 15 thousand, now Rp. 18 thousand per kilogram. This means that it only increases by Rp. 3,000. This is certainly not balanced between fish prices and feed prices," he said.

Responding to the complaints of the freshwater fish cultivators, Cak Imin, is committed to revamping the fisheries sector from upstream to downstream, so that the welfare of the cultivators can be guaranteed.

To confirm this commitment, Muhaimin had signed an integrity pact with fish cultivators.

One of the things that Cak Imin had reviewed was the opportunity for absorption of the freshwater fish market from local cultivators to meet the consumption needs of pilgrims from Indonesia during worship in the Holy Land of Makkah and Medina.

"After all, our marketing issue (the government) must look at foreign markets, and what is clearly in sight is one of them (momentum worship) Hajj. Our congregation is more than 250 thousand but those who enjoy the consumption of entrepreneurs are not from Indonesia. If necessary, I will double the minister of religion, so that large Hajj also benefits cultivators," he said in response to complaints from freshwater cultivators in Tulungagung.

He also hopes that later the Minister of Religion will have a high bargaining value for the large number of Indonesian pilgrims.

"That way, the Ministry of Religion can issue a policy of cooperating with Indonesian entrepreneurs to supply fish consumption needs for hundreds of thousands of pilgrims from the country, even abroad," he said.