POULTRYINDONESIA, Bogor – Rising production costs that are not matched by selling prices are putting increasing pressure on broiler farming businesses. This situation emerged during a meeting of broiler farmers held at Keboen Kopi, Bogor, West Java.

The Chairman of the Indonesian Independent Smallholder Farmers Association (Permindo), Kusnan, said that the current situation requires cooperation among farmers, marketing players, companies, and associations to find solutions together.

On the other hand, the government is considered to need stronger oversight of prices and distribution from upstream to downstream. According to Kusnan, price reduction policies must not become mere agreements on paper while farmers continue to suffer losses and consumers remain burdened.

“Price reduction policies must not become mere agreements on paper while farmers continue to suffer losses and consumers remain burdened,” he explained.

He emphasized that price stability must be achieved through effective monitoring, transparent distribution, and a balance between the sustainability of farming businesses and consumers’ purchasing power. Parties that violate regulations must also face sanctions to ensure effective price control.

“Those who violate the regulations must be sanctioned so that price stability can be achieved,” Kusnan stated.

Meanwhile, Harry Bromo, a board member of the National Poultry Farmers Community (KPUN), believes that monitoring must be conducted collectively and cannot rely on just one party. He emphasized that involving various stakeholders does not mean farmers distrust the Task Force or other relevant parties. Rather, joint oversight is necessary to minimize potential fraud or errors in the field.

“It does not mean that we distrust the Task Force or other relevant parties. However, joint monitoring is necessary to minimize the potential for fraud or errors,” he explained.

According to Harry, all associations need to unite and work together with the government, supported by the Task Force. Farmers can also contribute by providing accurate information about actual conditions in the field.

“We can also contribute by providing accurate and reliable information from the field. Through synergy and information transparency among all parties, God willing, prices can be better controlled,” he explained.

Therefore, every stakeholder has an important role to play in providing valid information and conducting joint monitoring to ensure that price control efforts are implemented effectively.

During the meeting, Bogor-based broiler farmer Hartono also called for live bird prices on October 29 to be maintained at around Rp22,000/kg for birds weighing 1.6–1.8 kg and Rp22,500/kg for those weighing 1.4–1.6 kg. He expressed hope that prices would increase by Rp500/kg each day.

Pinsar Indonesia board member Muslihin added that broiler prices on October 29 had the potential to reach Rp22,000/kg. This would represent an improvement compared to the previous day, when prices ranged between Rp18,500 and Rp19,000/kg.

“Today, we are making efforts to push prices up to Rp22,000/kg, although this level is still insufficient to generate a profit because our cost of production (COP) stands at Rp23,000/kg,” he said.

Over the next one to two days, Muslihin hopes prices will increase by another Rp500/kg, allowing them to reach Rp23,000/kg by the following Monday. According to him, this price level would only be sufficient to cover production costs or reach the break-even point, without generating any profit for farmers.

“At that level, we would only break even and would not yet be making a profit. After that, we will work toward achieving prices that provide a reasonable profit,” he said.

Muslihin believes that achieving the target price will depend heavily on solidarity among farmers. He said he had communicated with several other farmers who support the price increase initiative. Therefore, he hopes the target can be achieved, at least across the Greater Jakarta area (Jakarta, Bogor, Depok, Tangerang, and Bekasi).

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