Govt to Open New Garlic Farms, Import Shallots to Curb Soaring Prices | Kompas
(The Insider Stories) — The Indonesian government announced on Wednesday it would open new garlic farms and import 60,000 tons of shallots in the latest move to curb soaring prices of the commodities.
“We will reduce the dependency [on imports] in stages. We will add between 1,000 and 2,000 hectares [of farm land] for garlic every year. We want to revive [domestic production,” Agriculture Minister Suswono said. Suswono, however, did not elaborate as to where the new farms will be located or when they will begin production.
Separately, Trade Minister Gita Wirjawan said the government would import shallots over the next three months to help meet the country’s demand. “The first shipment of the imported shallots will arrive on April 5, 2013. [Imports] will be done in stages for two months. We’ll bring in a total of 60,000 tons of shallots,” Gita said.
He added the arrival of imported shallots had been arranged so that it would not clash with local farmers’ harvest time, which is expected to peak in July.
Indonesia meets 90 percent of its garlic demand from imports, as only 2,000 hectares of land are devoted to the crop, with domestic production standing at 13,000 tons per year.
Annual production reaches between 800,000 and 900,000 tons, while domestic consumption stands at 400,000 tons. The government typically relies on imports before the annual shallot harvest. Shallots, however, are not harvested until April, which is one reason why the price of the commodity has skyrocketed in recent months.
Gita said garlic prices had soared because a new Trade Ministry regulation on horticultural product imports had delayed the entrance of imported products. “To meet garlic supply for the January-June 2013 period, the recommendations on horticultural product imports should have been issued in December 2012 at the latest, but delays in administration caused it to be only issued on March 4, 2013,” Gita said.
Soaring prices of shallots and garlic drove Indonesia’s inflation to a nearly two-year high in March, with annual headline inflation recorded at 5.9 percent, compared with 5.31 percent the previous month.
