By Andi Abdussalam
Jakarta, Jan 17 (ANTARA) - Tempe (fermented soybean cake) has always been considered a typical dish for the common people or those in the lower income brackets in Indonesia.
Many 'warteg' (short for 'Warung Tegal' or food stall) sell tempe and tofu to meet the need of "lower class" consumers. With Rp1,000 (less than 10 dollar cents) one can have two pieces of tempe or tofu.
But is tempe or tofu really a dish for small people? When Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was elected president and was to deliver his first speech before the parliament in 2004, tempe was one of the 'mandatory' dishes on the menu of his breakfast that morning.
Throughout the archipelago, tempe is a popular dish for people from top executives down to daily laborers. That's why when tempe producers took to the streets in protest against the skyrocketing price of soybean, the main ingredient of tempe and tofu, the president was quick in responding to the rally.
Hundreds of millions of stomachs were at least 'growling' when no less than 3,000 tempe producers stopped production for three days and staged a demonstration calling for soybean price stability.
Some 3,000 tofu and tempe producers staged a rally outside the presidential palace on Monday, urging the government to stabilize the soybean price which had risen by almost 100 percent in the past year.
The skyrocketing soybean price had reduced tofu and tempe producers' profit margins. The retail soybean price jumped 110 percent to Rp7,250 a kg early in January 2008 from the same period last year.
Trade Minister Mari Pangestu said the soybean price had almost doubled to US$600 a ton in the past seven months due to declining production in the US which has been Indonesia's main soybean supplier.
In response to the protest, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) asked concerned ministers to discuss and deal with the problem which had affected tofu and tempe producers.
In the meantime, People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) Chairman Hidayat Nurwahid urged the government to overcome the soybean scarcity and drastically increased soybean price because the problems threatened the livelihood of thousands of tofu and tempe producers.
"There should be a way to make the country self-reliant in food. Otherwise, the nation will lose its tempe producing capability and become dependent on imports," he said.
He expressed surprise that the country was experiencing a serious problem in regard to its tofu and tempe production capability while it was supposed to be on its way to becoming self-reliant in food.
In order to discuss the problem, the House of Representatives (DPR)'s Commission IV is to summon its working partners in the executive branch, including the agriculture minister, next week for discussions to solve the current soybean crisis.
"We will summon the agriculture minister to find a solution in relation with the soybean price which has been soaring during the past few weeks," House Commission IV Vice Chairman Anwar Sanusi said in a statement carried by the parliament's website on Wednesday night.
Commission IV Chairman Totok Daryanto said the discussions with the related government officials were important and urgent as steps to overcome the soybean price spiral in the short and medium terms needed to be taken fast.
In order to overcome the problem, the government called on importers to release their soybean stocks to the market to help stabilize the commodity's price.
Director General for Processing and Marketing of Agricultural Products Djoko Said Damardjati said his office had held talks with the Trade Ministry on how to stabilize the soybean price.
He said importers still had about 200,000 - 300,000 tons of soybean stocks which could be released into the market to keep the price under control.
"Demand for soybean stands at 6,000 tons per day so that the stocks of 300,000 tons which could be used until March would be released to stabilize the market prices," the director general said.
Indonesia has been importing 1.2 million tons of soybean annually while its soybean consumption reached 2 million tons a year.
Other efforts the government would take were to lower the soybean import duty to five or zero percent from 10 percent previously so that the domestic price of soybean could be reduced while attempting to seek soybean supply from soybean producing countries other than the U.S.
According to Trade Minister Mari Pangestu, soybean supply had been reduced because the US had converted some of its soybean farms into corn farms to benefit from the higher price of corn used for biofuel products, she said.
"This has reduced soybean supply. Our annual demand amounts to 2 milion tons while domestic production reaches only 600,000 to 800,000 tons," she said.
Therefore, the government will move up the launching of a massive soybean planting drive to 2010 from 2015 as originally planned to reduce the country's dependence on imported soybean.
"There was no way we could control the soybean price in the United States and that's why the price of the commodity in Indonesia has soared. We can no longer rely too much on imported soybean," Agriculture Minister Anton Apriyantono said. (T.A014/A/HAJM/B003) 2. 00:30. (T.A014/A/A014/B003) 18-01-2008 01:03:10
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