JAKARTA - The Indonesian Palm Oil Farmers Association (Apkasindo) has asked the government to revoke regulations that reduce the price of fresh fruit bunches (FFB) for palm oil.
Chairman of the DPP Apkasindo Wrest Manurung said, during the last two months the price of FFB had decreased in 22 palm oil-producing provinces.
In fact, said Wrestling, the price of TBS for self-help farmers today is below Rp. 1,000 per kilogram (kg).
"The government must move quickly to boost the price of TBS farmers by revoking regulations that suppress the price of TBS farmers. These regulations are import duties (BK), export taxes (PE), domestic market obligation (DMO), domestic price obligation (DPO) and flush-out (FO)," he said.
Wrestling said that currently, oil palm (PKS) factories are urged by farmers to buy their TBS. However, the factory's storage tanks are full as well as refinerial constraints at export speeds due to the many obstacles that must be passed.
The same thing was stated by a self-help oil palm farmer from Rokan Hilir, Riau Province, Bobby Sinaga.
Bobby asked the government to immediately overcome the drop in the price of TBS palm because it could not cover the burden of production costs.
The policy of accelerating oil palm exports is considered not optimal because of the many regulatory barriers and tariffs for levies and outbound duties.
"Essentially, we hope that there will be improvements to policies from the government so that they can boost the price of TBS farmers," he said.
He revealed that the current selling price of TBS is IDR 1,230 and even IDR 1,000 per kg.
Meanwhile, the cost of production is above Rp. 1,800 per kg, so oil palm farmers must bear losses.
To be able to survive, he said, farmers are forced to take other jobs such as being workers and growing sari-laden plants.
According to him, the income of oil palm farmers has been lost by more than 65 percent. However, they try to treat it by doing fertilization to maintain productivity.
On the one hand, he continued, the increase in fertilizer and pesticide costs also had an impact on the farmers' Palm Oil Rejuvenation program.
"For this reason, we hope that the government will fix the regulation and levy scheme in oil palm exports and fix the price of fertilizers and pesticides," he said.
Bobby hopes that through the policy of accelerating CPO exports, the price of TBS palm will return to normal above Rp. 2,500 per kg.
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