www.poultryindonesia.com. AGRICULTURE Minister Suswono said the global financial crisis has prompted the government to put the food sector on its list of development priorities to promote the people's living standards, Antara news agency reported."Yet efforts to increase food production in Indonesia face many obstacles, such as declining water supply and shrinking farm land as a result of housing and industrial projects," he said last month.

www.poultryindonesia.com. AGRICULTURE Minister Suswono said he had asked the Australian government to tighten its supervision over cow exports to Indonesia to avoid transactions in violation of Indonesian import regulations. He had made the request following the discovery of the illegal importation of 2,516 cows from Australia not long ago. "We have asked Australia to watch over cow exports to Indonesia more carefully, and to respect Indonesian regulations," he said as reported by Antara news agency.

www.poultryindonesia.com. THE new rule that prohibits the slaughtering of poultry within the Jakarta city area that had taken effect April 23rd last month will not be enforced fully until the end of the year. Apart from the fact that the five new slaughter facilities in the outskirts of Jakarta aren't fully operational yet, the channels of trade and distribution have not been formalized yet. Don P. Utoyo, Coordinator of FMPI, a forum of associations and parties linked to the poultry trade, said that many technical and operational issues need to be sorted out before the new rule can be fully implemented.

www.poultryindonesia.com. JAKARTA Governor Fauzi Bowo said last month that he would be more flexible regarding plans to shut down the city’s nearly 2,000 poultry slaughterhouses and relocate them to just five main sites in the capital in an attempt to curb the spread of avian influenza.