"The government will need a large fund to establish a buffer stock."Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The trade ministry has asked rattan farmers and collectors to process their rattan before storing them in warehouses in order to obtain warehouse receipts, according to an official.
"The government has the instrument to help farmers and collectors obtain funds by providing warehouse receipts, but newly cut rattan cannot not be put in the warehouse before it is processed, in order to have its quality improved," said Mardjoko, the director general of external trade affairs of the ministry of trade, here on Friday.
He was discussing about how rattan farmers could put their products in warehouses and get financing, so that rattan-based industries at home do not run short of raw materials.
Mardjoko also responded to a proposal by the Indonesian Handicraft and Furniture Industry Association (Asmindo) that a buffer stock should be formed to accommodate farmers` rattan.
Asmindo called for the establishment of a buffer stock in order to overcome the problem of rattan raw material shortage, adding that the government should not merely provide warehouses where farmers could store their raw rattan and get warehouse receipts.
Mardjoko said that the establishment of a buffer stock, however, would need a lot of funds.
"The government will need a large fund to establish a buffer stock. We cannot immediately have that because we should first propose it through the state budget. Deliberations of a state budget draft at the ministry of trade, the ministry of finance, and the House of Representatives (DPR) will take a long time," he explained.
Mardjoko noted that the government only had a buffer stock of rice, for which it had provided a big amount of funds because the nation needed large rice reserves.
(Uu.A014/INE/KR-BSR)
Editor: Priyambodo RH
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