Jakarta, June 24 (Antara) - In its efforts to build the country's food resilience, including in cattle, the government needs to revise its policy on importing beef and develop a domestic breeding program and feedlot businesses.
Hence, Deputy Chairman of the Indonesian Regional Representative Nono Sampono urged the government to change its trade policy and reduce beef imports.
"The government should advance domestic cattle farming and feedlot endeavors in several regions," Sampono noted while inspecting several abattoirs in Cakung, East Jakarta, on Friday (June 23).
Indonesia has the potential to boost cattle breeding and to realize food resilience in the cattle breeding sector, so it would no longer need to import beef. With its large geographic spaces, the country should not depend on meat imports that could lead to shortage in the market when there are distribution obstacles.
Moreover, beef stocks are still readied based on the volume of market demand, according to slaughter house PD Dharma Jaya. Cattle slaughtered at the PD Dharma Jaya abattoir came from East Nusa Tenggara Province but to meet the domestic market demand, the company also imported beef from Australia.
President Director of PD Dharma Jaya Marina Ratna Kusumajati remarked that readying good-quality beef stocks through domestic breeding requires a relatively huge capital. It takes almost two years and eight months to breed cattle, starting from the calf stage until they are ready for slaughter.
During this period, the cost of fodder and medication is high.
"Hence, we call on the government to provide a subsidy to advance this sector," Kusumajati pointed out.
In a bid to reduce imports, the government, through the Agriculture Ministry, is developing a Mandatory Artificial Insemination Breeding Program (Upsus SIWAB) 2017. The government has so far conducted artificial insemination for female cows and 38.35 percent of the target set for the Upsus Siwab 2017 has been achieved.
Director General of Animal Husbandry and Animal Health I Ketut Diarmita noted in Jakarta on Wednesday (June 21) that through the Upus SIWAB program, the government has targeted to conduct artificial insemination on four million female cows. Until June 19, a total of 1,544,325 heads of cattle had received artificial insemination.
"We are optimistic of achieving the target this year as long as there are no constraints," the director general stated.
Diarmita pointed out that of the four million female cows that had received artificial insemination, three million are expected to experience gestation. Of the gestational target, some 563,987 have, so far, become pregnant, and 380,377 have given birth to calves.
The Upsus Siwab was launched as an endeavor by the government to increase the cattle population at the breeders' level by improving their production management system. The production improvement in the Upus Siwab program is made through examination of the reproduction status; artificial insemination; natural copulation; frozen semen and N2 liquid fulfillment; control on productive female cattle slaughtering; and fulfillment of forage feed and concentrate.
Other efforts to expedite the growth of cow population are also made through the implementation of Agriculture Minister's Regulation No. 49 of 2016 on Large Ruminant Importation into the Territory of the Republic of Indonesia.
Through the regulation, the Ministry of Agriculture requires cattle importers to also include 20 percent heifers for businesses and 10 percent mother cows for breeder cooperatives and farmer groups.
The director general said that the artificial insemination program has been implemented in 34 provinces in the country. It is divided into three clusters notably intensive, semi intensive, and introduction.
Through the intensive cluster, cattle are raised in sheds where the breeders are already familiar with the Artificial Insemination (IB) system. This system has been developed in Bali, across Java Island and Lampung.
The semi-intensive cluster is where the cattle are raised in sheds but the breeders are not yet well familiar with the IB system. This cluster is much developed in South Sulawesi, Riau, Bengkulu, and West Nusa Tenggara.
Meanwhile, the introduction cluster involves cattle breeding where cows are released in the fields and are impregnated through natural copulation.
"With regard to the third cluster, we will provide assistance in order to increase the IB system rate," Diarmita said.
Indonesia's per capita beef consumption in 2015 had reached 2.56 kilogram (kg) per year, or about 653,980 tons, according to Sapibagus.com.
Of this amount, some 416,090 tons, or about 2,447,000 live cows, or 64 percent, were supplied by local production, while the remaining 237,890 tons, or about 1.4 million live cows, or 36 percent, were imported.
The imports comprised 720 thousand feedlot cattle and frozen beef equaling 680 thousand heads of cattle.
Last year, Indonesia's per capita beef consumption per year was forecast to increase by 10 percent to 2.85 kg. This means that the country needs some 738,024 tons, or equal to 4,341,323 live cows.
Local production is forecast to supply 469,235 tons of meat, or equal to 2.76 million live cows, or 62 percent of the total needs. Thus, a total of 268,790 tons, or equal to 1,581,117 live cows, or 38 percent, should be imported to meet the domestic need for the commodity.***3***(A014/INE)EDITED BY INE(T.A014/A/BESSR/A. Abdussalam) 24-06-2017 15:42: |
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