LIVESTOCK EXPECTED TO HELP INDONESIA BECOME GLOBAL FOOD BARN

By Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, Sept 26 (Antara) - Livestock, one of the important contributors to the agricultural sector, is expected to build the nation's food resilience and help it achieve the ultimate goal of becoming a global food barn in 2045.          By encouraging commercial livestock rearing, Indonesia's vision to become a global food barn in 2045 would be achieved, according to I Ketut Diarmita, the director general of Animal Husbandry and Animal Health.          To boost growth in the animal husbandry sector, livestock should serve as a driving force to achieve the target of making the country a global food barn.          Dean of the Faculty of Animal Husbandry of the Gadjah Mada University Ali Agus had stated that farms in tropical countries were significantly able to boost food sovereignty.      "The role of livestock in tropical countries is important for developing self-reliance since livestock functions as a means of savings and capital accumulation and to supply inputs for food crops through the production of manure that can be processed into fertilizer," he remarked.          Efforts to measure the contribution of livestock to realizing food sovereignty in tropical countries are critical to identifying the superiority and competitiveness of commodities and their derivative products, he added.          Director of Processing and Marketing of Fisheries of the Agriculture Ministry Fini Murfiani had noted on Saturday (Sept 23) that the primary objective of increasing production is to meet the domestic demand after which Indonesia should expand its export market for livestock products, such as meat, eggs, goats, and sheep.

RI, AUSTRALIA CATTLE ISSUE CANNOT BE TAKEN TO WTO

By Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, June 15 (ANTARA) - The Australian move to suspend its live cattle exports to Indonesia over alleged cruelty against the animal in the latter's  abattoirs could be solved by both countries in  bilateral talks as the World Trade Organization (WTO) cannot  interfere in the matter.          "The WTO cannot influence the decision of a country in restricting its exports to another country. If Indonesia and Australia have a problem over the matter, they should resort to  consultations and discuss it bilaterally," WTO Director General Pascal Lamy said here on Tuesday.          In this case, WTO could not meddle in the suspension of livestock exports imposed by Australia on the grounds that Indonesia had violated  animal welfare principles.          It would help settle a problem only if one of the parties felt it was disadvantaged and applied to the WTO Dispute Settlement Body for its settlement.          "If one party feels its interest has been harmed by unfair treatment, it can use the WTO dispute settlement system," the WTO director general said.          However, an international law observer, Himahanto Juwana said Australia's step to suspend its live cattle exports to Indonesia on ground of violation of animal welfare has the potential to breach the agreement between the Republic of Indonesia and Australia on the Framework for Security Cooperation or popularly known as the Lombok Treaty.          Article 2, clause 2 of the Lombok Treaty stipulates that Australia and Indonesia must mutually respect and support each other's territorial integrity, sovereignty, national unity, political independence and non-interference of domestic affairs.          "In this context, the slaughter of cattle is a domestic affair of Indonesia. If the way the cattle is slaughtered in Indonesia is viewed by Australia as against animal welfare, Australia could tell Indonesia in a way not categorized as an interference in Indonesia's domestic affairs," he said.          The suspension of the cattle exports constituted a coercive step taken by Australia against Indonesia which is not in line with the non-interference and mutual respect principles, he said.          Yet, according to Pascal Lamy, trade restriction can be imposed by a certain country to protect its population and security from health and security disturbance.          The same voice was also expressed by Indonesia's External Trade director general Gusmardi Bustami. He said that in procedural terms, the Australian step to halt the exports of its cattle breeding stock to Indonesia was not prohibited.          "Article 20, clause 20 of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), does not regulate it, yet it could be construed that someone could take animal welfare as a reason," he said.          The article said that trade restriction could be imposed for public interest, health and state security reasons, yet it could not be applied indiscriminately.          Last week, the Australian government decided to suspend its young cattle to Indonesia for six months because it viewed that a number of Indonesian slaughterhouses did not abide by the animal welfare standards.          A footage aired on ABC1's Four Corners recently showed the animals were kicked, thrashed and beaten, their throats were hacked at, eyes gouged and tails were broken. Yet some quarters in Indonesia considered the allegation as a trick to boost Australian meat exports to Indonesia.          In order to solve the problem, Indonesian Trade Minister Mari Elka Pangestu said that the government was taking the needed settlement steps. She said that Indonesia already had a national action plan to improve the capacity of its abattoirs.          "We have also coordinated with Australia to take stock of slaughterhouses considered to have not yet met the required standards. What have been shown in the video are only a small number. We want to provide guidance for them (slaughterhouses)," the minister said.          In the meantime, Deputy Agriculture Minister Bayu Krisnamurthi said Indonesia and Australia had agreed to formulate animal welfare standards for cattle slaughtering.  The agreement was the result of a meeting between Indonesian Agriculture Minister Suswono and the Australian agricultural attache in Jakarta on Tuesday.         "We will formulate again the slaughter standards. We will probably finish formulating it in the coming two to three weeks," Bayu said.          Virtually, Indonesian abattoirs already have cattle slaughter standards but Australia is not yet satisfied with it while Australia itself is yet to have those standards. Actually, Indonesia and Australia could use the international animal health organization (OIE) standards. But the OIE standards are still general in nature.          Therefore, the rules applied so far by Australia have not yet been recognized by the OIE and WTO.          "The formulation of standards is important as the rules applied in Australia have not yet been recognized by the OIE and the WTO," Agriculture Miniser Suswono said. Indonesia also has animal welfare standards which are spelled out in Agriculture Minister's Regulation Number 13 of 2010 on conditions for slaughterhouses and meat handling units.          At the meeting in the minister's office the two officials agreed the policy of cow imports would be determined only after an investigation was conducted into the torture allegations.          "But before a field inspection is done the animal welfare standards have to be made first" Suswono said.***5*** (T.A014/A/HAJM/15:10/f001) 15-06-2011 15:08:2

RI RANCHERS HAIL AUSTRALIAN CATTLE EXPORT HALT

Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, June 11 (ANTARA) - Cattle ranchers at home hail Australia's decision to stop its cattle exports to Indonesia, urging the government to also stop its meat imports from that country in order to increase prices in the domestic market where meat has so far dropped from Rp25,000 to Rp18,000 per kg.          They said that the Australian move to stop its livestock exports to Indonesia on the pretext that abattoirs at home had committed cruelty to the animals before slaughter was only a trick.          It aims to increase Australia's meat exports and halt supply of cattle breeding stock to Indonesia which might cause the country unable to achieve its target of cattle self-sufficient in 2014.          Cattle breeders in Boyolali, a well-known "milk town" in Central Java and one of the cow producing centers supplying almost all regions in Central Java and Jakarta, hailed the suspension of cattle imports from Australia.          They think the measure would automatically cause a rise in the price of local cows. Local cow breeders in Boyolali would get an advantage following the suspension of imports of cows from Australia, Timur, a breeder from Selo, Boyolali, said on Friday. He said if cow imports from Australia were not stopped they could hurt the price of local cows and the farmers.          Therefore, the Indonesian Cattle Ranchers Association (HPI) also urged the government to reject Australia's meat exports. "The government should well reject meat exports from Australia," HPI Executive Board Chairman Rudy Prayitno said Thursday.          He said that Australia had officially notified Indonesia that it would stop its exports of slaughter cattle and cow breeding stocks to Indonesia after it reportedly learned that the Indonesian abattoirs did not meet the slaughter standards.          "Australia's reason for halting its livestock exports to Indonesia because Indonesian abattoirs have failed to meet national slaughter standards is only a fabrication," Rudy said.          He said that the rumors about Indonesia's failure to meet the national standards in the slaughter house were not true and were only fabricated by non-governmental organizations in Australia.          "Australian NGOs deliberately fabricated the issues by saying the slaughter of the animals in Indonesia did not meet the standards so that exports to Indonesia would be stopped and Indonesia's cow production and population would be reduced," he said.          Rudy said that if Indonesia does not import cows from Australia, its cow production and population would drop so that it would not be able to achieve its goals of self-sufficiency on cow production in 2014.          This is also a trick to increase Australia's exports of meat to the country. Therefore, Rudy called on the government to take firm attitude to reject Australian meat exports if it really stopped its exports of cow offspring to be bred in Indonesia.          "Just reject it, so that we would not have any relations regarding cows with Australia. That would disadvantage us," he said.          Former vice president Jusuf Kalla said the stoppage of Australia's exports of cattle breeding stocks should not be worried about. It would not reduce Indonesia's cattle production.  According to Kalla, the import restrictions can actually increase the production of cow in Indonesia, and encourage cattle ranchers to increase production and that the self-sufficiency in beef target would be achieved.          "There will be no problem, we should be optimistic. The availability of our cows is enough, we can be self-sufficient in beef," Kalla said.          Kalla is optimistic that Indonesia is able to meet the needs for cattle of the community, considering that Indonesia once exported cattle. "We must be optimistic. In the past we once exported cattle,"  Kalla said.          As regards, Kalla also hailed Australi's decision to stop its laughter cattle and cow breeding stock exports to Indonesia. "I think this is a good opportunity for us to produce more cows," he said.          Kalla said restrictions on Australian cow imports will not affect the availability of cattle in Indonesia. The problem is that the availability of cattle for the community in Indonesia is enough.          In the meantime, Australia will maintain its exports of meat to Indonesia. Though it has threatened to stop its livestock exports, yet it will maintain its frozen meat shipment to the country.          Agriculture Minister Suswono said  that the Australian government had notified his office that it would stop for six months only the exports of its slaughter cattle and  young cows.       He said that Australia had decided to stop the export of slaughter cattle due to pressures from non-governmental organizations which found indications that cattle in Indonesian abattoirs were slaughtered not based on the animal welfare standards.          The minister said that the stoppage of the exports should have been utilized by local cow breeders to increase production and reduce dependence on imports.          The importation of livestock in Indonesia has caused the price in the local market to drop, where meat is only priced at between Rp18,000 and Rp22,000 per kg.          Head of Boyolali's animal husbandry service, Dwi Priyatmoko,  expressed his appreciation to the suspension, saying it would certainly raise the price of local cattle that has plummeted so far.          The price of live cattle in Boyolali, which supplies up to 40 tons of meat and averagely 100 live cattle a day to other regions, has dropped causing transactions to decline making many breeders to wait for the price to rise.          The price of live cattle is only around Rp18,000 per kilogram down from Rp25,000 earlier. "Following the suspension the price is now creeping up to Rp19,000 per kilogram and it is expected to continue to rise in the days to come," he said. ***5*** (T.A014/A/HAJM/15:00/f001) 11-06-2011 14:57

AUSTRALIA SUSPENDS LIVESTOCK EXPORTS TO INDONESIA

By Andi Adussalam

Jakarta, June 4 (ANTARA) - Australia which last year shipped  $300 million worth of livestock to Indonesia, may have decided to suspend the exports in an effort to bolster the volume of its frozen meat exports to its Southeast Asian neighbor.          "It would be more profitable for Australia to export meat rather than slaughter cows to Indonesia," Agriculture analyst Bustanul Arifin said on Friday in response to reports that Australia has threatened to stop its slaughter cattle exports to Indonesia.          He said that with meat exports Australia would be able to gain more profit than the one it could reap if it sold slaughter cows to Indonesia.  According to ABC news on Tuesday, Indonesia is Australia's key market for live cattle exports, taking 60 per cent of all cattle, and in 2010, the trade was worth more than $300 million.          Since the trade began 20 years ago, more than 6.5 million cattle have been shipped to Indonesia for slaughter. The Australian livestock export industry and the Australian Government have invested more than $4 million into improving animal welfare in Indonesia over the past 10 years.          However, reports have it this week that Australia had threatened to stop shipping cows to abattoirs in Indonesia after a document revealed that abattoirs had committed cruelty against the animals sent there for slaughter.          The footage aired on ABC1's Four Corners early this week showed the animals were kicked, thrashed and beaten, their throats were hacked at, eyes gouged and tails were broken.          Australia's export agency LiveCorp has taken the decision to stop exporting cattle to Indonesia after it was given footage of animal cruelty by animal rights campaigners.          LiveCorp CEO Cameron Hall said cruelty to Australian animals was simply unacceptable and the industry won't tolerate it. He described the footage as graphic and distressing, and frustrating for the industry.          The move came ahead of an investigative feature, which included the film from Indonesia, on the ABC's Four Corners on Monday night.           Nswpolicecrime.com online media quoted the analysis on the footage by Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) chief scientist Bidda Jones that some animals showed signs of consciousness when they were dismembered.          In March this year, animal welfare campaigners 'Animals Australia' filmed in 11 randomly chosen abattoirs in Indonesia and provided the footage to Four Corners. More than a month later, a Four Corners team went to Indonesia and filmed in abattoirs where cattle suffered prolonged and painful deaths.          However, Bustanul Arifin who is also a professor at the Lampung State University said the Australian decision to stop live cattle exports because of cruelty reason to the animals had trade motivation to boost Australia's meat trade to Indonesia.          Besides having higher added value if exported in the form of meat, the Indonesian government could also face difficulties to control the edibility of the meat if the live stocks are slaughtered there.          "After all, Indonesia is now launching a self-sufficiency program to increase its production at home in 2014," he said.          In 2011, the agriculture ministry has allocation for the importation of 50,000 tons of meat, far below that in 2010 which was 120,000 tons. Indonesia imports meat from Australia, New Zealand, the United States and Canada.          In the mealtime, Agriculture Minister Suswono said Indonesia was planning to reduced its cattle imports to only 10 percent of its need by 2014. "Indonesia has set itself a target to import only 10 percent in 2014. Based on the international standard, Indonesia would already be self-sufficient if it is able to reduce its imports to only 10 percent," he said.          Regardless of this, he said, Australia, which exported some 600,000 head of cows annually to Indonesia, still needed the Indonesian market for its cattle  and to this effect both nations ahead must nurture better cooperation.          "We believed that Australia still needs the Indonesian market because Indonesia so far has been a destination country for cattle exports," he said. Indonesia imports meat from Australia, New Zealand, the United States and Canada.          The minister said it was Australia's rights to judge whether or not there was cruelty to slaughter cows at Indonesian abattoirs and whether or not it would stop its exports to the country.       After all, Indonesia is now trying to reduce its cattle imports through developing its cattle project and to increase the population of its cattle at home.          "We are not concerned with the threat of Australia to stop its cow exports to Indonesia because we can import the cattle from other countries. After all, we hope that the result of the census would guarantee our steps in increasing the local cattle population," the minister said.          The Indonesian government is launching an inventory on the population of its cows and buffaloes to know the volumes of its need for imported meat in the future.       "We hope that with the cow population census, we will obtain valid picture and data. So far we have data showing that the population of cattle in Indonesia reached 12.6 million," he said.***5*** (T.A014/A/HAJM/19:10/a014) (T.A014/A/A014/A/A014) 04-06-2011 19:11: