When Cigarette Manufacturers And Tobacco Farmers Wait For Each Other, This Is The Regent's Suggestion HM. Al Khadziq

Regent of Temanggung HM. Al Khadziq went down to try to bring together cigarette factories as buyers and tobacco farmers. (Intermediate Photo)

TEMANGGUNG - When large cigarette factories and tobacco farmers in Temanggung, Central Java were still holding back, and waiting to get the best price, the transaction for selling raw materials for cigarettes was still quiet, Temanggung Regent HM. Al Khadziq went down to try to bring the two sides together.

The Regent stated that based on observations in several warehouses representing cigarette factories in Temanggung, until now the purchase of tobacco, especially representatives of PT Djarum, is still sluggish. According to him, the sluggish purchase of tobacco is because the price given by the cigarette factory is still far from what farmers expect.

He conveyed this after carrying out inspections of several warehouses for purchasing tobacco representatives of PT Djarum in Temanggung.

According to him, Djarum is still too selective in choosing the quality of goods, while the quality sought is still difficult for farmers to fulfill, so what is currently happening is that farmers, traders, and Djarum are holding back from each other.

Regent of Temanggung HM. Al Khadziq made an inspection of tobacco purchases at one of the tobacco purchasing warehouses in Temanggung. (Intermediate Photo)

"They restrained each other, Djarum withheld his money, farmers and traders withheld their goods because the price had not been met," he said as quoted by Antara, Tuesday, August 31.

Therefore, he asked Djarum to increase the price again in order to meet the farmers' expectations.

"Meanwhile I also ask farmers to improve the quality of their goods so that the specifications can enter the factory. If the factory raises prices and farmers increase the quality, I think this will soon meet the wishes of the farmers and the factory's wishes so that the business can run," he said.

If as is the case today, he said, factories and farmers refrain from each other, the business will not run. If not, then both parties will be harmed.

Khadziq said that in general the tobacco trade in Temanggung began to gradually improve, prices also began to improve, although it was still felt by farmers and tobacco traders to be lacking.

Temanggung Regent HM. Al Khadziq hopes that there will be a meeting point between tobacco farmers and cigarette factories. (Intermediate photo)

A Djarum grader, Arif Raharja, said that currently he has started to absorb farmers' tobacco with grades A+ to C.

"We have also purchased some premium quality tobacco from Gunung Sumbing at a price of Rp. 62,500 but the amount is not much, most of them are still around Rp. 45,000-Rp. 50,000 per kilogram and a small portion is also at Rp. " he said.

Until now, he said, not too many goods had been absorbed by the warehouse because there were not many farmers and traders who deposited it, because the price expectations from farmers and traders felt that the price given by the factory was too low, so they still held their goods.

"Officially I just made a purchase on Monday, August 30 and currently only absorb about 300 baskets of tobacco. Usually during the normal season I can process around 400-500 baskets per day and now the absorption is only around 50 baskets per day," he said.

Regent of Temanggung HM. Al Khadziq hopes that there will be a meeting point between cigarette factories and tobacco farmers.