English
Indonesia
Dark Days for the Cattle Fattening Industry
The government target to achieve beef self-sufficiency in 2014 by increasing the cattle population in Indonesia should be good news for cattle farmers in Indonesia. Unfortunately, for most farmers focused in beef cattle fattening, the commitment is not enough.
Because in the midst of everything, more and more ready-for-slaughter beef cattle are imported and overwhelming the domestic market. Not only that, frozen beef products are also freely sold at cheap prices, only Rp 39,000 per kilogram. Such conditions are not good for cattle farmers.
“The cattle fattening industry is devastated. The import of ready-for-slaughter beef cattle keeps on increasing at a maddening pace. The competition is no longer healthy,” said Nandang Suryana, a cattle farmer from Kawalu subdistrict in Tasikmalaya city on Monday (8/3).
How could it not? Ready-for-slaughter imported cattle such as Brahman cross are sold at slaughterhouses at Rp. 22,500/kilogram bodyweight the most, while imported feeder cattle fattened in Indonesia are sold at least Rp 25,000/kilogram bodyweight.
A price like that is very bad for farmers, especially since farmers have to cover for production cost and buy feeder cattle which are also expensive.
Also, if slaughterers suffer loss from slaughtering imported beef cattle, the importer is willing to cover for it, creating a subsidy system from importers to slaughterers. The case is different with beef cattle from farmers; any loss will be suffered by the slaughterers themselves. According to Nandang, beef cattle importers have many ways to “bind” slaughterers into buying imported cattle and not buy cattle from farmers.
“Before, the price from farmers was Rp 27,000 per kilogram bodyweight. Now, even if the price was lowered to Rp 24,000 per kilogram bodyweight, none of the slaughterers are interested,” said Nandang.
Even thought the price of imported beef cattle is cheap, it doesn’t mean consumers taste the benefit because the retail price of beef in markets is still high, around Rp 60,000 per kilogram. All profit goes to slaughterers.
Not profitable
Cattle farmer from Karsamenak village, Kawalu subdistrict in Tasikmalaya city, Subekti, added that the current condition which is not profitable for farmers are forcing farmers to leave behind mix breeds such as Limousin and Simmental derivates. Now farmers tend to go for local mix breeds such as Ongole derivates (PO).
Unfortunately, Ongole derivate cattle can only be sold to a limited market, only during Eid al-Adha. But, such measures must be taken because even though farmers force themselves to produce Limousin or Simmental derivates, it will be difficult for them to sell afterwards. “Even gaining profit of only Rp 50,000 - Rp 100,000 from selling cattle is now difficult, while the money we put into it is millions,” he said.
Nandang said if they want to help farmers, the government must limit import or at least change the system, only import feeder cattle (maximum bodyweight of 300 kilograms) to be fattened in Indonesia instead of importing ready-for-slaughter beef cattle. If the government only allows the import of feeder cattle, the conditions would not be as bad. (Adhitya Ramadhan)
Source: Kompas