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A group of shrimp producers is asking that the government intervene and help small-scale farmers struggling with low prices in the global market.

The Indonesian Government ought to set a minimum price for shrimp and subsidize farmers when they are not capable of getting the minimum price from buyers, General Chairman of the Lampung branch of Tiger Shrimp Plasma Growers (P3UW) Nafian Faiz said on Monday.

At this time, large-scale shrimp buyers hold the dominant role and control the prices granted to shrimp farmers, Nafian said.

“The government should pay more attention to shrimp growers, especially to the continuously falling shrimp price,” he said, Jakarta Globe reports.
The shrimp prices paid to farmers have fallen from USD 12.40 a kg in 2006 to some USD 6.80 a kg.

Domestic shrimp farmers have very little bargaining power when holding transactions with large-scale buyers. Shrimp producer and processor PT Central Proteinaprima has purchased around 70 per cent of the shrimp produced by local farmers – and the firm’s overriding position has helped lead to low prices, according to Coordinator of the Fisheries Justice Coalition (Kiara) Riza Damanik.

Riza also urged the government to enhance its environmental regulations of the shrimp farming industry. Unregulated expansion of shrimp farms, he said, has been breeding too many farms and thereby environmental destruction, which has, in turn, made farmers spend more capital on drugs and vitamins to maintain the shrimps’ health.

Another factor harming shrimp farmers have is the rising cost of shrimp feed, which jumped by about 25 per cent last year.

The government intends to boost shrimp production from an expected 400,000 tonnes in 2010 to 700,000 tonnes by 2014.

In January, a marine biologist at the Bogor Institute of Agriculture (IPB), suggested that the government should construct local feed mills. This would lower prices, as about 40 per cent of feed ingredients are currently imported.

Sumber: http://fis.com/fis/worldnews/worldnews.asp?monthyear=3-2010&day=9&id=35795&l=e&country=0&special=&ndb=1&df=0

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