POULTRYINDONESIA, Solo – Frustration that had been building up for months finally spilled onto the streets. On Tuesday (7/7/2026), hundreds of broiler and layer farmers from the Solo Raya region, including Boyolali, Klaten, Karanganyar, and Sukoharjo, gathered at Gladag Roundabout in Solo City. They expressed their protest by holding an egg-bathing action in the middle of the busy street, while distributing hundreds of live chickens and dozens of kilograms of fresh eggs to passing residents. One farmer from Karanganyar even climbed onto a box truck and smashed eggs onto his own body, witnessed by motorists passing along Jalan Slamet Riyadi.

Chairman of Boyolali Bersatu Farmers Association, Krishandrika Immanuel Raharjo, stated that the current farm-gate price of broiler chickens is only around Rp12,500 per kilogram, despite the government recently setting the reference price at Rp19,500 per kilogram. Similarly, egg prices at the farmer level have fallen to Rp16,500 per kilogram, far below the government’s newly established reference price of Rp24,000 per kilogram.

What has made farmers even more confused is that the decline in prices occurred precisely when production costs are increasing. Feed raw materials such as soybean meal have reportedly increased by up to Rp2,000 over the past six months, even though the government has implemented a single-import channel scheme that was initially expected to reduce prices. Corn prices have also remained high, currently reaching Rp6,800–7,000 per kilogram at the farmer level, exceeding the government reference price of Rp5,500 per kilogram.

With egg production costs estimated at around Rp26,000 per kilogram, while selling prices are only Rp16,500 per kilogram, farmers are suffering losses of approximately Rp9,000–10,000 for every kilogram of eggs sold. Kris also criticized the government for being quick to conduct market operations when egg prices rise, but seemingly absent when prices collapse at the farmer level.

“A small-scale farmer with a population of 1,000 chickens producing 50 kilograms of eggs per day can suffer losses of up to Rp500,000 per day, excluding other burdens such as electricity, vaccines, and worker wages, which continue to increase,” he explained.

Meanwhile, Action Coordinator Parjuni explained that the protest was the culmination of farmers’ frustration after egg stocks accumulated without being absorbed by the market over the past two months. According to him, the losses suffered by Solo Raya farmers have reached hundreds of millions to billions of rupiah.

“The issue is not only about oversupply. Consumers’ purchasing power has also weakened. Even though prices have been pushed as low as possible, market absorption remains sluggish, indicating that the public’s economic conditions are under pressure. We hope prices can return above production costs, with eggs reaching above Rp23,000 per kilogram and broilers at a minimum of Rp19,500–20,000 per kilogram. We also hope our voices reach the government so that the regulations that have been established can truly be implemented firmly in the future,” he said.

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