Letter: Tobacco famers clarify

With reference to the report entitled “Myths about farmers and tobacco busted” in The Jakarta Post (July 6) the Indonesian Tobacco Farmers Association (APTI), Central Java, and three farmers from Temanggung involved in a workshop on “Facts behind the myth of tobacco industry”, affirm that some statements made in the story are not true.

In the workshop, organized by the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI), Ignatius Haryanto from the Institute for Press Development and Studies (LSPP) said tobacco growers had diversified their agricultural products and started cultivating Arabica coffee. This is incorrect.

In fact, coffee is only planted as an intercrop on the fringes of tobacco plantations to strengthen the soil and prevent erosion. It does yield extra income before the tobacco harvest season.

It is not grown to replace tobacco, which is a far more profitable commodity.

The recent protests against government plans to tighten rules on the tobacco industry were lodged by thousands of farmers and middlemen brokers.

We are sure that extreme rules will threaten the livelihood of at least 2 million tobacco farmers in Indonesia. Tobacco farmers are not against the rules as long as they are fair and take into account the complexity of the tobacco issue.

N. Wisnu Brata
Chairman of APTI, Central Java