The previous government under former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono had set a target for Indonesia to become self-sufficient in meat production by 2014.
However, by October 2013, cattle population had plunged from 16.4 million in 2012 to 14.2 million, clearly inadequate to meet the domestic need for meat, pegged at about 550 thousand tons per annum.
Till date, Indonesia has to import meat or cattle to meet its domestic needs. The meat sector has been witnessing a trend to rather import the commodity instead of breeding cows at home.
Cattle needs two and a half to three years before it could be slaughtered or sold.
The head of the Breeding Division of PT Santori, Dayan Antoni, said in Lampung Province on Thursday that businesses take less interest in breeding cattle due to the high cost and the risks involved. From their point of view, it takes a long time before the cattle could yield economic benefit.
The fact, however, remains that one way to meet the need for feedlot cows and to become self-sufficient in cattle production is to breed cows in an efficient manner, one that is economically viable for large scale breeding business.
He said that in order to produce one cow -- beginning from a heifers pregnancy, the birth of a calf until the calf grows to a weight of about 370 kilogram and is ready for slaughter-- involved Rp17 million in costs.
Dayan said this entire period could be between two and a half years to three years.
Therefore, he said the expectation was that the government would provide support in the form of a comprehensive policy in reducing the high risk involved in cattle breeding business. Only then the businesses would become interested.
He said that the government could provide incentives such as exempting import of heifers or breeder cows from duty. The incentives could also be in the form of tax exemption, subsidized bank interest and land for developing a cattle ranch.
The Director General of Animal Husbandry and Animal Health of the Agriculture Ministry, Muladno Basar, said on Thursday that as of now, there are only five cattle breeding companies in Indonesia. One of these is PT Santori.
Head of Breeding Division PT Santori Dayan Antoni said 1,000 breeder cows were imported this year. These will be used to increase the countrys breeding capacity, especially in case of wagyu cow species which had been bred since 2012.
The brahman type cows were imported from the Australian state of Northern Territory on board the MV Outback vessel.
He said his company could successfully import the heifers, thanks to the support of the government through the Directorate General of Animal Husbandry and Health of the Ministry of Agriculture.
"The director general was successful in convincing Australia to simplify the animal health protocol. This led to reduced costs for quarantine and health checks of the cattle, thus cutting down the cost of importing heifers," he said.
With the support, the length of time needed for the animal quarantine was reduced from 14 days to seven. This directly cuts the quarantine cost from US$220 per head of cattle to US$50 only, he said.
The significant cut in the quarantine cost could boost Indonesias efforts to become self-sufficient in cattle production.
In the meantime in an effort to boost cattle breading at home, the government is developing a small scale livestock farm center program.
According to Agriculture Minister Andi Amran Sulaiman , the central government has set aside Rp500 billion for model of small scale livestock farm center (SPR) all over Indonesia, an official said.
"An SPR would need at least 1,000 productive cow breeders," Andi Amran Sulaiman during a recent visit to Lampung was quoted as saying by the Lamung provincial administration secretary Arinal Djunaidi recently.
The SPRs are expected to increase the population of cows in the country, Arinal said here on Friday (Nov. 13).
He said the government will also provide assistance in services such as animal health center with veterinarians, and experts in cow breeding business and animal feed.
"The budget for each area would depend on the condition of the areas," he said.
He said the Lampung provincial administration would fully support the program, adding Lampung wants to be be self sufficient in meat.
"A number of breakthroughs are needed in step to achieve self sufficiency in meat such as through cooperation under SPR system in cattle breeding and feed lot," he said.
Further, for the development of cattle breeding in the country, the Ministry of Agriculture has put forth a proposal to the chief economic minister to exempt the current five percent import duty on breeder cows.
Director General of Animal Husbandry and Animal Health of the Agriculture Ministry Muladno Basar stated in Bandar Lampung on Thursday that as heifers give birth to calves, so no import duty should be levied on them alike that on feedlot cows or frozen meat.
"The coordinating minister for economic affairs has received our proposal (zero-percent import duty). Later, we will coordinate it again," the director general stated on the sidelines of a visit to inspect the cattle imported by PT Santosa Agrindo (Santori) through the Long Port in Lampung Province.
According to Muladno, importing breeding cattle will not only increase their population in the country but also have a double impact with the emergence of breeding businesses.
Currently, he added that only small parties were interested in breeding cows as it took a long time to yield results, and the maintenance cost was not small.
"Therefore, it is justified to offer incentives to breeding businesses in the form of free import duty to attract investors to develop the sector," he noted.(*)
Reporter: Andi Abdussalam
Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2015
