FARMER'S STORES TO SHORTEN GOODS DISTRIBUTION CHAINS

by Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, Sept 18 (Antara) -  Agriculture Minister Amran Sulaiman has said his ministry is planning to build 1,000 farmers stores across the country through 2016, in a bid to shorten the distribution chains of agricultural products and stabilize prices.          The development of Indonesian Farmer Stores (TTI) is one of the efforts the government is making to shorten the distribution lines of basic necessity supplies in reaching consumers.          With a fund of Rp200 billion, the farmer shops will be built in a number of cities, such in the Jabodetabek (Jakarta, Bogor, Depok, Tangerang and Bekasi), Bandung (West Java), Surabaya (East Java), Medan (North Sumatgra) and Makassar (South Sulawesi).          "In principle, the farmer stores will be built in cities with high food commodity consumption rates," the minister was quoted as saying on Thursday, Sept 17 by online media Tempo.Co.      In order to fulfill the plan, the Ministry of Agriculture will cooperate with the Ministry of Trade and state-logistics board Bulog.  Further, the ministry of agriculture will provide guidance and subsidies to farmers.