29/01/2009 (The Jakarta Post) - At least 500 farmers in Paser Regency, East Kalimantan, rallied in front of the Paser Regency administration building Wednesday, calling for reductions in the prices of crude palm oil and fertilizer to allow them to compete with large industries.

The spokesman for the farmers, Mansuetus Darto, said the local government should not issue land permits to big coconut industries, but rather allow local farmers to band together to establish their own coconut plantation so that they could increase production and compete with big players in the industry and have a big enough voice to be involved in the determination of crude palm oil and fertilizer prices.

"Now farmers are getting poorer. Investment in land for palm plantations is not balanced. We spend more money on expensive fertilizer but we're receiving less and less money during harvest. And it's been happening since September last year," Darto said.

Darto said there were 8,000 oil palm farmers in the regency and that each farmer had on average a two-hectare plantation but could only earn enough to cover their daily needs.

He said that a recent scarcity of subsidized fertilizer had hit the farmers hard, as they had been forced to buy non-subsidized fertilizer, which costs Rp 170,000 to Rp 200,000 per sack compared to Rp 50,000 to Rp 80,000 per sack for subsidized fertilizer.

Darto said there had been a break down in the distribution of subsidized fertilizer.

The farmers' representatives were received by Deputy Regent HM Hatta Jarit who said he promised the administration would respond to their demands. "It's fine. We welcomed the farmers' rally into the office and we will response to their demands."