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Regulation on quarantine islands to be issued in November
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Illustration. (Peter Cade via kompas.com) (Peter Cade via kompas.com)
Illustration. (Getty Images/Peter Cade via kompas.com)
A government regulation on the development of quarantine islands to accommodate imported cattle breeding will be issued in November.
"I have proposed the plan to President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo; the draft has been completed so the regulation can immediately be issued next month," said Agriculture Minister Andi Amran Sulaiman on Wednesday as quoted by Antara news agency.
The issuing of the regulation, said Andi, would be followed by the import of 22,000 cattle from Australia to be bred on the islands.
He added that six months after the regulation was issued, the ministry would also issued a supporting ministerial regulation.
Andi also said that the islands' development aimed to solve Indonesia's dependency on beef imports.
"So we will buy the 'factory' [cattle] and breed them, instead of [only purchasing] the beef," said Andi.
Previously, the ministry's quarantine agency chief Banun Sri Harpini said potential quarantine islands could be Naduk Island in Bangka Belitung province, Durian Besar Island in Riau Islands province and Simuang Island in Southeast Sulawesi province, due to their economic and technical viability. Historically, the islands have been free from animal diseases and they have clean water and ecosystems that could support the imported cattle.
At present, Indonesia can only source live cattle and meat from countries that completely free of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) as declared by the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), particularly Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the US, in line with a previous law passed in 2009. (kes)
