"We have heard the complaints of palm farmers in Lampung because the price of their fresh fruit bunches is low," Hasan said in Central Lampung on Saturday.
Therefore, he urged palm processing or crude palm oil (CPO) mills to buy palm fruit bunches from smallholders for at least Rp1,600 per kg.
"We ask the mills to buy (palm fruit bunches for) at least for Rp1,600 per kg. There are still factories that buy for Rp1,300 per kg," he said.
“Sometimes the mill does not buy directly from the farmers, but through the shelter there, where the palm is usually bought for Rp800 per kg,” the Trade Minister added.
The decent price must range between Rp1,600–Rp2,000 per kg, Hasan emphasized.
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The issue of proper pricing for palm fruit bunches sold by smallholders was voiced by the Lampung regional chairman of the Indonesian Oil Palm Farmers Association (APKASINDO), Abdul Simanjuntak.
"The average price of oil palm is below Rp1 thousand per kg or around Rp700 per kg, so (farmers), to meet daily needs, such as buying rice alone, we have to sell 30 kg of palm," he remarked.
He expressed the hope that the price of oil palm bunches bought from smallholders/farmers would reach Rp2 thousand per kg due to high input costs, such as the price of fertilizers that can reach Rp17 thousand per kg.
"The fertilizer is already Rp17 thousand per kg so we have to sell one quintal (100 kg) of palm so we can buy fertilizer because the price (of palm) is only Rp700 per kg. We cannot afford to send children to school anymore, and hopefully, the government will look at the suffering of farmers because we believe the government can help farmers in Lampung," Simanjuntak said.
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Translator: Ruth K, Kenzu T
Editor: Suharto
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