Jadi yang jadi korban dulu adalah yang makan tempe dan
thu dan bukan yang suka pergi ke MacDo atu KFC atau
Pizza Hut..
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SATURDAY, JANUARY 19, 2008
10:30 MECCA TIME, 7:30 GMT
Biofuel boom costs Indonesians dear
By Step Vaessen in Jakarta
Home factories that use soyabeans to make products
such as tempeh, are
struggling to deal with the rising cost of the basic
commodity
Indonesia
is struggling with a potential food crisis, because of
rapidly increasing prices for one of its staple crops.
The cost of soya beans has doubled on the world market
in recent months, making imports increasingly
expensive.
The main cause of the price rise is shifting
production in the US.
Biofuels phenomenon
A US energy bill signed into law last September,
encouraged a massive increase in biofuels, like
ethanol.
Soyabeans and corn once used mostly for food are now
being refined into fuel.
That means soaring prices for Indonesia's "food of the
poor".
Take the case of Tukino. His family has been running a
home factory for the last 34 years, making bean curd,
one of Indonesia's most popular dishes.
Bean curd is a staple of Indonesians' diet
But never before have soyabeans been so expensive.
The price has doubled during the past few weeks.
Analysts say this is because US farmers are replacing
the crop in order to grow corn for biofuel instead.
Tukino says: "We are really suffering from this. We
are sweating here everyday just to make ends meet.
"I am trying to run a business but if this situation
continues a lot of people have to be laid off."
Bean-curd factories like the one run by Tukino's
family went on strike for three days to protest
against the price increase.
But after consumers began to complain, they decided to
operate again.
Nutritious and cheap
Bean curd has kept many poor Indonesians healthy for a
very long time.
It is very nutritious and it used to be very cheap,
but now Indonesia's favourite food is becoming very
expensive and hard to get. And this is already
creating unrest.
To calm down sentiments, bean curd and tempeh, another
popular soybean dish, are being sold again on the
market, much to the relief of many Indonesians.
But while the price is still the same, the sellers
have made the portions much smaller.
One resident of Jakarta said: "My children don't want
to eat anything when there is no tempeh or beancurd.
They simply don't feel well if I don't serve it to
them.
"Normally I could buy it at a food stall, but there
hasn't been enough in the market for quite a while."
Farmers' view
The Indonesian Farmers Union says the country should
become self-sufficient again and start growing
soyabeans as it used to do in the past.
Henry Saragih, from the Indonesian Farmers Union,
says: "This is a basic need which is now very hard to
get.
Soyabean goods are being sold again for
the same price but in smaller sizes
"This is not only turning in to a social crisis, but
this could also cause hunger and malnutrition."
The government admits that it should have worked
harder to achieve self-sufficiency.
Sutarto Alimoeso, an agriculture ministry official in
charge of food crops, told Al Jazeera: "This is an
international problem, we cannot stop free trade.
"But we should indeed have protected our farmers more.
There is not a single country that doesn't protect its
own farmers. We should have been braver."
For the time being the Indonesian government has
decided to control the price of soybeans by asking the
state food company to buy stock overseas.
This could prevent a deepening food crisis in the
country for now.
Still, in the long term, other measures may have to be
found.
Source: Al Jazeera
---------------
Jusfiq Hadjar gelar Sutan Maradjo Lelo
Allah yang disembah orang Islam tipikal dan yang digambarkan oleh al-Mushaf itu
dungu, buas, kejam, keji, ganas, zalim lagi biadab hanyalah Allah fiktif.
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