JAKARTA, Sept 27 (Reuters) - Indonesia hopes it will have enough domestic cattle to stop importing within nine years, under a new programme requiring livestock importers to also bring in breeding cattle, the agriculture minister said on Tuesday.
Indonesia abolished its quota system for cattle imports on Monday, allowing firms to bring in livestock as long as there is one breeding animal imported for every five feeder cattle. coming to power in October 2014, President Joko Widodo has pursued agriculture self-sufficiency policies to protect farmers, but the result has often been volatile prices and worried investors, eroding support for the government. all of Indonesia's cattle is shipped from Australia in trade that was worth nearly $600 million last year, but the Southeast Asian nation is restricting imports and pushing buyers to breed their own livestock inside the country to reduce its dependence on imports.
"If the 1:5 import (ratio) is realized, it can accelerate self-sufficiency," said Agriculture Minister Amran Sulaiman.
"The president's target is nine years. But if we can make it faster, it's better."
So far three companies have been granted approval to import a combined total of 300,000 feeder cattle through to the end of 2018, and more are expected, Trade Minister Enggartiasto Lukita told reporters on Monday. The companies had agreed to import 60,000 cattle for breeding.
The ministry has said it expects Indonesia to import about 700,000 cattle for slaughter in 2017.
The Indonesian Feedlotter Association is unhappy with the new rule, saying it is unfeasible because feedlots would quickly fill with breeding cattle and calves, leaving insufficient room to accommodate cattle for slaughter.