Can Our Horticulture Independent?
Reflecting on the case of chili and onions, Faculty of Agriculture IPB held a discussion titled Horticulture Independency: Reflecting on the Case of Chili and Onions in the Auditorium of Toyib Hadiwijaya, Darmaga Campus of IPB (16/4). Dean of the Faculty of Agriculture, Prof. Dr. Ir. Ernan Rustiadi invited Mudatsir, STP (Secretary General of the National Council of Shallot), Ir. Tjahya Widayanti, MSc Head of the Center for Trade Policy, Ministry of Trade and Dr. Ir. Nunung Nuryartono, MSc (Economics Expert of IPB) to discuss Horticulture Indonesia.
Horticultural import rate is currently 14.97% for vegetables and 21.63% for fruit. Demand for fruits and vegetables will continue with the increasing public education. Ironically, the imported commodities can actually be produced in Indonesia. Last month, after the policy was made to reduce the import of horticultural products, garlic prices immediately soared. This increase was followed by a rise in onion prices. Prices retreated after the import tap was opened again.
The case of garlic price reaching up Rp 60 thousand per kilo in March is as if to remind us of the year 1995. At that time, President Soeharto ordered Faculty of Agriculture IPB to help cope with the rising prices of onions. It was only the onion price rise, why the president asked for help. It turned out that the rising prices of onion and garlic were able to raise inflation. This is different ftom other horikultura products.
"If the price of apple or pear goes up, then there is another substitution. Consumers can switch to papaya or oranges. If the price increase is of garlic and onion by only 2%, then certainly inflation will happen," said Prof. Sobir, Head of the Center for Tropical Hortikultural Studies as a moderator in the discussion.
Meanwhile, according to Dr. Nunung, if you look at the market pattern and structure of garlic, onion and chili, there is something interesting there. However, he does not find the patterns coming from the data of 2012-2013 on red onion obtained from Ministry of Commerce.
Then, who enjoyed the rising prices? Data from the Department of Agriculture of West Java province in 2009 shows that in the central market and production centers, prices fluctuate one another.
"It means the price change was good. Then, in the data of 2011 the price fluctuation on the producer was not the same as that of the central market. I suspect there are changes in the market structure both in distribution and in merchant (a price game)," he said.
As for garlic, if there had been good and tight regulation, the price increase last month should not have happened. We import garlic up to 80% with a total of US $ 250 million at the import price under US $ 1per kilogram.
According to the Secretary General of the National Council of Shallots, the increased price of red inion resulted in disaster on the other side. "Farmers released all their crops for sale. Even for the same purpose, they washed the onions previously intended for seedlings (because already sprayed with a fungicide). As a result, the price of onions seedlings now reaches Rp 40 thousand per kilo whereas before it was only Rp 15 thousand per kilo," said Alumni of Faculty of Agricultural Technology, Bogor Agricultural University,who is currently manageing several cooperatives in Cirebon. (Mtd)
