High beef price feared to trigger deer hunt

Limited beef supplies in Lampung has caused its price to rise, with buyers facing difficulties in obtaining beef at traditional markets around the province capital Bandarlampung due to a strike launched by traders unhappy with a regulation on curtailing beef imports.

The beef scarcity, with its price soaring from Rp 58,000 (US$6.3) to Rp 78,000 per kilogram, has also raised fear that people, mostly in Lampung rural areas, may resort to deer hunting.

“Now is the season for weddings and circumcisions. For villagers, venison is usually used to replace beef because for them, parties must include meat,” a conservationist in Central Lampung, Guswarman, said Wednesday.

He said many people living near forests still hunted deer due to its cheaper price and it being tastier than meat.

The deer hunting, he added, also took place in conservation forests and national parks.

“The price of venison is actually only a few thousand rupiah less than the price of beef, but venison will be an alternative when beef is scarce. That’s why deer hunting prevails,” Guswarman said.

Venison sold in Bandarlampung not only comes from forests in Lampung but also from South Sumatra.

“A shop located along the eastern Trans-Sumatra highway between Palembang and Betung in South Sumatra, for instance, especially sells venison,” he said.

He said if the problem was not given attention, the impact would be large, especially since the fasting month of Ramadan and the post-fasting Idul Fitri celebration, when demand for beef usually rises sharply, were approaching.

Beef traders in Bandarlampung said beef supplies had been sluggish over the past two months, largely due to the regulation curtailing beef imports, urging the government to loosen up the limit on cattle imports.

“The government should take stern measures to ensure beef supplies during Ramadan and Idul Fitri,” said Bandarlampung Beef Sellers Association head Sudarma.

“We have not been selling for a week as a form of protest against the cattle import curtailment....”

Cattle importer Subekti said the beef crisis in Lampung could not be resolved by switching supplies to local cattle. Apart from lower meat volume, the price of local cattle is higher compared to imports.

Local cattle is priced at Rp 26,000 per kilogram, when weighed alive and only Rp 22,000 for imported cattle. Local cattle weighs up to 90 kilograms per head, while an imported one can weigh up to 500 kilograms.

Lampung Husbandry Office head Nurcahyo said the government had not totally stopped cattle imports, but was only limiting it.

He said cattle farms in Lampung import more cattle than local ones, but imported cattle is then sold outside Lampung.

“If cattle companies prioritizes the Lampung market, Lampung would not face a beef crisis despite the import quota."