Dadi Sudiana, chairman of the Indonesian Association of Chili Pepper Agribusiness, asked the government to review the plan to import chili as the country is entering a harvest season from April to May this year. "Sticking with the imports plan means that the government only protects consumers without any regards to the farmers' fate," Dadi told Tempo last weekend.
He hopes the government will cancel the imports plan, as it would hurt rural farmers. He said that the price hike of chili—that occurred some time ago—was caused by uncertain climate conditions. As an impact, farmers are expected only able to produce about 800,000 tons of chili this year. In normal conditions, Indonesian chili farmers are able to produce about 1.1 million tons per year.
Dadi said that conditions are now back to normal. The farm price of chili peppers is around Rp17,000 to Rp18,000 per kilogram, while the market price ranges between Rp30,000 to Rp35,000 per kilogram.
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http://en.tempo.co/read/news/2014/03/10 ... rt-Farmers