Amran said the export was the realization of his dream from two years ago. In 2015, Amran pledged not to import shallots anymore. Now, his promise has become a reality. Indonesia has not only stopped imports, but has also begun exporting shallots and profiting from the commodity. “We turned imports into exports. This is the result of cooperation between farmers, the government, the police and the military,” Amran said.
Despite having centers of shallot farming, such as those in Bima in West Nusa Tenggara, in Brebes (Central Java) and Bojonegoro (East Java), Indonesia still relied on imports to fulfill domestic needs up to 2015. The Agriculture Ministry’s data shows that Indonesia received 72,655 tons of shallots from Thailand in 2014. A year later, the figure dropped to 15,796 tons. By 2016, there were no more shallot imports.
This year, 5,600 tons of shallots will be exported. A ceremony at PT Bawang Merah Indonesia Sejahtera was held to commemorate the first shipment. The rest will be delivered throughout the rest of the year. Its total export value is US$8.5 million, or more than RP 100 billion. This year’s export is claimed to be the biggest in three years. In 2016, Indonesia exported 735 tons of shallots.
Amran said that this result did not happen overnight. Programs such as seed assistance, planting acceleration and farmland expansion in the last three years were key factors. The government has also become more proactive in purchasing farmers’ harvests at Rp 15,000 ($1.13) per kilogram.
Its success in maintaining self-sufficiency made the government bolder in setting a high production target. Harvest yields have become greater. The Agriculture Ministry’s data shows that the country produced 1.45 million tons of shallots in 2016, an 18percent increase from the previous year.
Amran has targeted a total shallot production of 1.68 million tons this year, but only 594,000 tons had been produced as of June 2017. The target is higher than the national shallot demand of 1.1 million tons per year. It is the surplus harvest that will be distributed overseas.
“If the trend continues, we can export hundreds of thousands of tons next year. This is no longer food sufficiency. It is food sovereignty,” Amran boasted.
Export as solution
The current efforts stand in contrast to the old way of relying on imports. If we imagine a person with the flu, imports are like taking over-the-counter medication only to lower a fever, but incapable of truly tackling the virus. It only stabilizes price and supply temporarily, but will make prices plummet and, consequently, harm Indonesia’s farmers.
In 2014, for instance, the shallot price was between Rp 40,000 and Rp 100,000 per kilogram. However, during a great harvest, the price could plummet to Rp 5,000 per kilogram. This is below the production cost of Rp 8,000 to Rp 10,000 per kilogram.
Agriculture Ministry director general of horticulture Spudnik said that high production caused prices to fall. Therefore, exports should be seen as a solution to distribute the production surplus.
The ministry’s director general of foreign trade, Oke Nurwan, said that the ministry would facilitate exports of shallots and other agricultural commodities. “There will be no layered licensing. We will also make a database of shallot exporters,” he said.
PT Bawang Merah Indonesia Sejahtera’s success has motivated the company to maintain its exports. Its director, Benny Santoso, said that the company was exploring the possibility of entering the Taiwanese market. As for pricing, he said the company always purchased commodities directly from farmers at prices above the government’s reference price. The hope is that the scheme can boost the welfare of local farmers.
Problems
However, just 2 kilometers from where the company launched its export distribution, Wastra, 60, has yet to enjoy the sweetness of food sovereignty. The shallot farmer in Luwungragi village, Bulakamba district, Brebes, said he was frustrated by maggot infestations and the plummeting selling price.
That day, after five hours of working his fields, he collected a bucketful of maggot-infested shallot seedlings. He could not understand why the maggots were so aggressive, despite having sprayed pest repellant on the plants for the last five days, for which he spent Rp 500,000. He had twice as many maggots as usual, he said.
“It has been like this since June. Planting the shallot cost me Rp 6 million and I could only take home Rp 3 million from the last harvest,” said Wastra, who rents a 1,700-square-meter plot at Rp 2 million per year. The infestation has decreased his production from 1 ton to 400 kilograms.
Other than pests, Wastra and other farmers must also face falling prices. Raw shallots in Brebes were Rp 11,000 per kilogram on Aug. 17, 2017, much lower than the government’s reference price of Rp 15,000.
The steep price of seeds exacerbates the farmers’ plight. Currently, shallot seeds are Rp 30,000 per kilogram and some are still imports. In 2016, for instance, Indonesia imported 1,500 tons of shallot seeds from Vietnam and the Philippines.
“The condition makes many farmers reluctant to plant shallots,” Wastra said, pointing to the idle lands of other farmers. At least the farmers will not bear losses from not planting shallots.
Indonesian Shallot Association chair Juwari hoped conditions would improve. The government could start by increasing the HPP price. Currently, the cost price for shallot is Rp 12,000. If the selling price at farmers’ level is Rp 11,000, farmers will have to bear a loss.
Juwari said that even a selling price of Rp 15,000 might not be profitable for farmers, especially for those with farms less than 2,000 sqm. On farms of this size with1 ton of shallots sold at Rp 15,000 per kilogram, a farmer will make Rp 15,000 in profit.
“With a production cost of Rp 12 million, the farmer will only make Rp 3 million for three months of work,” he said.
This condition, Juwari said, prevented farmers from becoming prosperous. In order to meet their daily needs, farmers needed to take out loans when their fields were not producing.
Indonesia’s efforts to be free from import dependency must be appreciated. Shallots have made the nation proud.
However, the government must not forget the nation’s farmers. The welfare of farmers, whom Agriculture Minister Amran called “food heroes”, must also be protected.
