Improvement of Beef Trade Mechanism

JAKARTA –  The government has prepared six steps to improve the beef cattle and beef trade mechanisms to anticipate spikes in beef price. The six steps had been approved in a meeting between the Directorate General of Livestock of the Ministry of Agriculture and beef cattle importers on February 21, 2008. Director of Ruminant Livestock Culture of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fauzi Luthan, said that the first step is so vendors could directly purchase beef to farmers, meaning that vendors no longer need to go through distributors. But both parties need to make a trade agreement.

Second, vendors could cooperate with the Indonesian Meat Distributor Association (Asosiasi Distributor Daging Indonesia / ADDI) for usage of ADDI’s equipment and marketing. In other words, vendors could make use of the distribution network owned by ADDI to add value to high quality beef. Third, the government will open land transportation routes from cattle producers in the eastern part of Indonesia to consumer centers in the western part. For that, the government will try to acquire a permit from the regional government of Bali so cattle transportation could go through that area.
The problem is because Nusa Tenggara Timur and Barat have had anthrax cases, while Bali is an Anthrax-free area. Therefore, transportation of beef cattle through Bali should be maintained in some way to prevent transmission of disease to cattle in Bali.
Fourth, the Ministry of Agriculture will collaborate with the Ministry of Trade in supervising the market, so beef sold at markets all met the necessary requirements. “The government must ensure that the beef quality matches with what is said on the labels attached,” said Fauzi.
Fifth, he said, the government will optimize livestock transportation tools, beef transportation boxes, and animal holding areas in animal slaughterhouses. The objective is to maintain the quality of meet transported, because there are cases of spoiled beef due to impaired cooling systems. The last or sixth step is the government will search for other countries besides Australia as a supplier for juvenile beef cattle. “This is long term,” said Fauzi. For that the government is currently assessing possibilities on importing beef cattle from Sudan, Canada, and USA.
According to Director of Veterinary Public Health of the Ministry of Agriculture, Turni Rusli Syamsudin, the current price of local cattle is 22,000 rupiahs per kilogram and for imported cattle is 20,500 rupiahs per kilogram. The price of local beef in markets is now 55,000 – 60,000 rupiahs and beef from imported cattle is 52,000 – 55,000 rupiahs.
There has been an increase of 6,000 to 7,000 rupiahs per kilogram if compared to prices in the end of 2007. “We predict that prices will fall after the six steps are applied,” said Turni. But, he could not predict when and for how long. Only that beef price is also dependant on the price fluctuation of Australian dollar to American dollar.
Turni added that until the end of 2007, cattle population in Indonesia was 11.3 million. From that amount about 1.9 million cattle are slaughtered. The rest is kept for breeding. There is an indication that from the 1.9 million cattle slaughtered, 150,000 of them are productive cows. “Productive cows are not supposed to be slaughtered because they are for breeding,” he said.
Unfortunately, said Fauzi, the government could not prevent farmers from slaughtering productive females because the government does not have the funds to replace or buy them to prevent slaughtering. Meanwhile, farmers need money for their daily expenses Gabriel Wahyu Titiyoga
Source : Koran Tempo