Indonesian government announced the closing of at least 10 sugar factories in East Java by the end of 2017, forcing more than 100,000 family breadwinners into unemployment.
At the end of 2016, the Indonesian government announced the closing of at least 10 sugar factories in East Java by the end of 2017.
The reason for this decision, viewed from a purely technocratic perspective, was the inefficiency of extracting sugar from sugarcane. Many of those factories had been operating since the Dutch colonial period at the beginning of the 20th century and were said to lack the facilities for efficient sugar extraction.
Fast-forward to mid-2017: The decision has been met with fierce resistance from local people and governments, both of which would be economically affected. This development was to be expected.
A single sugar factory can employ about 15,000 workers. Shutting down of 10 of them can force more than 100,000 family breadwinners into unemployment.
Furthermore, Indonesia is one of the top 10 global sugarcane producers, producing 33 million metric tons of sugarcane.
Ironically, Indonesia still imports a half of the sugar it consumes, about 1.4 million tons. Thus, there is no doubt sugar production needs to be more efficient, but it needs to be done in a way that has less impact on society.
There are viable technological innovations that can be utilized to increase efficiency of sugar extraction from sugarcane.
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