Jakarta (Antara Bali) - Agriculture Minister Andi Arman Sulaiman said the government will still import live cows in 2016 to meet domestic requirement.
Andi gave no detail including number of cows to be imported, but he said "we will import breeder cows that could give birth 10-12 times."
However, secretary general of the ministry Hary Priyono said the country would import around 600,000 cows in 2016 to meet domestic consumption of 675,000 tons of beef.
The ministry and the Board of Logistics have only a stock of 416,000 tons , therefore, the country would need to import 600,000 cows equivalent to 236,000 tons, he said.
He said there are many cow production centers in the country like East Nusa Tenggara, but buyers prefer to imports because of difficult access to the the centers.
Last month, a new cattle ship began its regular service transporting live cows from East Nusa Tenggara to Jakarta.
The KM Camara Nusantara arrived in Jakartas Tanjung Priok port last month with 353 live cows, the minister said .
With the ship, East Nusa Tenggara began its regular shipments of live cows to Jakarta.
The 353 male Bali cows were ordered by the state run Board of Logistics (Bulog), the minister said, welcoming the first shipment at Tanjung Priok.
The live cows each weighing 250-350 kilograms, would produce 125 kilograms of meat on the average, the minister said.
The minister said the plan was that shipments by KM Camara Nusantara would be made twice every month from East Nusa Tenggara bringing around 150,000-200,000 beef cows a year to Jakarta.
He said the vessel would also brought in beef cows from South Sulawesi, West Nusa Tenggara , East Java and Lampung to Jakarta.
He said the target is to change the market structure with 80 percent of beef requirement in Jakarta to be locally supplied.
So far beef market in Jakarta has been dominated by meat of imported cows mainly from Australia.
The minister said he hoped the operation of the cattle ship would reduce cow transport and distribution costs in the country.
The government of President Joko Widodo is set to improve efficiency in the distribution of beef cow by using local cattle ships .
Transport problem has caused the price to soar making it difficult in shipment of live cows from the regions especially East Nusa Tanggara to Jakarta .
The availability of the special cattle ship would better guarantee market for cows from the breeding centers and supply of beef with a lower prices in consuming regions, the minister said.
The KM Camara Nusantara 1 has spaces enough for 500 cows with international standard . It will be busy transporting live cows from production centers in East and West Nusa Tenggara and East Java to the Greater Jakarta area , the largest consuming region in the.(WDY)
