Minister Of Agriculture Ensures Cattle Stocks Are Ready For Slaughter In North Sumatra And Aceh Are Safe

Minister of Agriculture Syahrul Yasin Limpo during a visit to a cattle farm in Deli Serdang, North Sumatra. ANTARA/HO-Ministry of Agriculture.

JAKARTA - Minister of Agriculture Syahrul Yasin Limpo (SYL) has ensured that cattle stocks for North Sumatra and Aceh are safe after inspecting cattle farms in the Deli Serdang area, North Sumatra.

"The availability of meat for the people of North Sumatra and its surroundings is safe and sufficient until later Lebaran," said Minister of Agriculture Syahrul as quoted by Antara, Thursday, March 3.

Minister of Agriculture visited PT. Juang Jaya Abdi Alam in Deli Serdang, which is a livestock company that focuses on fattening Brahman Cross cattle imported from Australia. The largest cattle breeding company in Sumatra has 3,600 cows in Deli Serdang and 18,000 in Lampung.

Minister Syahrul said that he believed that the availability of ready-to-be slaughtered cattle was sufficient to meet the needs of the North Sumatra region and its surroundings until May-June.

"By looking at the availability in Java, which we visited yesterday, especially Jabodetabek, Sulawesi, and today we are in North Sumatra, everything is safe, as what they reported to us is the same as in the field, and we can see that the availability of cattle is sufficient," said the Minister of Agriculture.

He said that there are no problems in the cattle fattening farm, including the contract and the price is still appropriate and there has not been a significant increase.

"If we look at the availability of cows here, we believe we can supply the needs of cattle ready to be slaughtered for Ramadan until Eid later," said Syahrul.

Based on data from the Ministry of Agriculture as of March 2, 2022, the availability of beef or buffalo from March to May 2022 was 234,091.2 tons, while the demand for meat was 202,937.8 tons, so there is still a surplus of 31,153.4 tons.

The availability of the meat consists of local beef/buffalo production of 445,884 heads or the equivalent of 80,268.0 tons of meat, imported feeder cattle ready to be slaughtered in March-May as many as 143,464 heads or the equivalent of 27,500.6 tons of frozen beef/buffalo. 95,114.8 tons.

Meanwhile, Farm Manager PT. Juang Jaya Abdi Alam David Yasin said the current cattle population is 3,643 heads, with 950 cows ready for slaughter in March 2022 and 1,450 in April and 1,250 in May.

He said to increase the cattle population, PT. Juang Jaya Abdi Alam plans to import 1,800 in March 2022. Next will also be imported in April as many as 1,200 tails. "The current distribution to North Sumatra is 68-70 percent and Aceh 30-32 percent," he said.