July 27, 2010

 

 

Traditionally a marketplace for fresh poultry, a new legislation is now being enforced in Jakarta's local government, which states that only frozen poultry may be sold in the capital of Indonesia.

 

In 2007, the local government of Jakarta defined their target to make the city cleaner and healthier. In order to achieve this goal, the Peraturan Daerah (Perda) DKI No. 4/2007 regulation was created. The objective of this regulation is to control the distribution of live birds (broilers) into the city of Jakarta from outside, and to relocate the traditional slaughtering business inside Jakarta to five locations, all of which have been provided by the local government. The regulation is also aimed at controlling the spread of avian influenza. Another goal that is set out by the government is to change consumer behaviour in buying frozen, rather than live birds.

 

In April 2009, the local government provided 250 freezers to the poultry sellers in traditional markets. By this, they had hoped to encourage and support consumers in switching from live to frozen poultry.

 

The regulation was planned to be enforced by of April 2010; however, Jakarta's agriculture and fisheries agency is battling to prepare the five slaughtering locations-three of them are run and controlled by a private firm, and the other two by the local government.

 

Many traditional poultry sellers have fought against the implementation of the new local regulation. According to Edy Setiarto, head of the city's agriculture and fisheries agency, the building of the slaughtering facility should have been ready by April but the city agency did not meet the deadline. Based on the latest data, the three slaughterhouses run privately are ready for relocation with a total capacity of 192,000 birds (in Pulogadung, Rawa Kepiting, and Srengseng). The other two government-run facilities, with a capacity of 100,000 birds (in Cakung and Petukangan) are still under construction.

 

Setiarto states that there are approximately 60,000 birds entering Jakarta on a daily basis, although many local poultry sellers argue that the data supplied from the city agency is not valid. They claim that this number is as high as, or exceeding, 800,000 birds.

 

There are two associations of traditional poultry sellers in Jakarta, namely Himppayam (the association of live bird distributors, slaughterers, and sellers in Jakarta) and HPUJ (Jakarta association of poultry sellers). The members of both Himppayam and HPUJ are not just sellers-some of them also buy live birds from farms and then distribute them. All of the sellers are also slaughterers, who conduct the slaughtering process in the traditional manner, but claim to do so hygienically. Both of these associations are trying to stop the Perda DKI No. 4/2007 legislation. Himppayam says that the local regulation is just the way to eliminate their business.

 

"The city agency only cares about big retailers who are selling frozen poultry carcasses. This will lead to a monopoly of the frozen poultry market. We want the regulation process to be stopped and no relocation," a spokesman said, adding that the total number of poultry sellers in all traditional markets in Jakarta is 8,000 people, and 200 places for live bird distribution.

 

"Relocation will result in many people loosing their livelihood and becoming unemployed," HPUJ agrees with Himppayam.

 

A new agreement has been made, giving an extended period to the associations still doing business. They may terminate live birds and slaughtering process in their own current locations until December 30, 2010, by which time they will all need to have moved to one of the five slaughterhouses. According to the city agency, the two slaughterhouses that are run by the local government will be ready by October.