TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
NTB farmers slow to switch from kerosene to coal
Tobacco farmers in West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) are reluctant to convert equipment from kerosene to coal power - despite the end of government kerosene subsidies - due to the cost to modifying drying ovens, says a local official
Change Size
T
obacco farmers in West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) are reluctant to convert equipment from kerosene to coal power - despite the end of government kerosene subsidies - due to the cost to modifying drying ovens, says a local official.
False rumors that said that subsidized kerosene is still available also contributed to the of the energy conversion program's slow progress, NTB Plantation Office head Ihya Ulumuddin told media recently at the NTB gubernatorial office.
The NTB Plantation Office said that 3,460 of Lombok's 16,375 tobacco-drying ovens, or omprongan, have switched to coal: 11,312 in East Lombok, 4,867 in Central Lombok, 116 in West Lombok and 80 in North Lombok.
"There are still 12,000 ovens that have not yet switched. Farmers are unwilling to modify their ovens due to rumors that the remaining volume of subsidized kerosene for 2009 would still be distributed for use," Ihya said.
The farmers are afraid of the hazardous effects of coal on their health and the environment, he added.
"Using coal is efficient. We still need to make farmers aware of this so that the program can be completed by the end of the year," Ihya said.
The Oil and Gas Downstream Regulatory Agency has guaranteed coal supplies for tobacco farmers, he said.
"The conversion program is intended to help farmers. If they use kerosene ovens, they must continue to buy kerosene for Rp 7,500 *81 US cents* per liter," he said.
The subsidized price of kerosene was previously Rp 2,500 per liter.
The NTB provincial administration set aside Rp 27 billion in 2010 for the conversion program and loans to farmers to make oven modifications, Ihya said.
Ahmad Syarif, a coordinator for the farmers, said that farmers were discouraged by the Rp 10 million-cost of converting an oven from kerosene to coal.
Sofian Hisaf, a farmer in East Lombok, said that he would convert his ovens if the government covered costs directly instead of through loans to farmers.
"Using loans to convert the ovens puts us at a disadvantage," he said.
West Nusa Tenggara, which has 35,000 hectares of tobacco farms, is Indonesia's largest tobacco supplier and produces between 50,000 and 60,000 tons of tobacco leaves per year. Lombok's tobacco provides 75 to 80 percent of total national demand.
Almost 154,000 workers and 45,000 tons of kerosene are required during the tobacco planting and harvest seasons, according to independent reports.
