ID :
16434
Wed, 08/20/2008 - 01:33
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Shortlink :
https://www.oananews.org//node/16434
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N SULAWESI CLOVE FARMERS AGAINST MUI PLAN TO BAN SMOKING
Manado, Aug 19(ANTARA) - Clove farmers in North Sulawesi fear the Indonesian Council of Ulema (MUI)'s plan to issue an edict declaring smoking "haram" (not permitted) will cause a drastic decline in the market price of their product and therefore they oppose the plan, a farmer here said.
Cloves are an essential ingredient in clove-flavored cigarettes mass produced by many cigarette makers in Java.
"Cloves now fetch a good price in the market, namely Rp50,000-Rp60,000 per kilogram but an MUI edict to ban smoking will cause it to fall deeply and that, obviously, will plunge us into misery," Albert Mokodongan, a Minahasa clove farmer, said here Tuesday.
Making smoking impermissible under Islamic law is tantamount to destroying the clove market whereas the cigarette industry is virtually the only buyer of North Sulawesi cloves. "Therefore, we object to the MUI's plan," he said.
"North Sulawesi clove planters reject the MUI plan because it will ruin the well-established clove market. In fact, the Sampoerna cigarette company is now prepared to provide farmers with high-quality clove seeds to improve their product," said Jonas T, a South Minahasa clove farmer.
The way the government was now pursuing to discourage smoking, namely by requiring cigarette companies to print a warning about the health hazards of smoking on each package of cigarettes was already good enough and did not need to be followed by an MUI edict (fatwa), Jonas said.
The head of the North Sulawesi Plantation Office, Rene Hosang, said clove farmers accounted for only 20 percent of North Sulawesi's population but at clove harvest time, the region's economy always experienced a boom as the harvesting activity also involved many people other than the farmers, namely people who would work as clove pickers and traders.
Every grand clove harvest would yield 15,000 - 20,000 tons and at the present market price of Rp 58,000 per kilogram, it would mean an income of Rp1.16 trillion per year to the farmers, he said.
Cloves are an essential ingredient in clove-flavored cigarettes mass produced by many cigarette makers in Java.
"Cloves now fetch a good price in the market, namely Rp50,000-Rp60,000 per kilogram but an MUI edict to ban smoking will cause it to fall deeply and that, obviously, will plunge us into misery," Albert Mokodongan, a Minahasa clove farmer, said here Tuesday.
Making smoking impermissible under Islamic law is tantamount to destroying the clove market whereas the cigarette industry is virtually the only buyer of North Sulawesi cloves. "Therefore, we object to the MUI's plan," he said.
"North Sulawesi clove planters reject the MUI plan because it will ruin the well-established clove market. In fact, the Sampoerna cigarette company is now prepared to provide farmers with high-quality clove seeds to improve their product," said Jonas T, a South Minahasa clove farmer.
The way the government was now pursuing to discourage smoking, namely by requiring cigarette companies to print a warning about the health hazards of smoking on each package of cigarettes was already good enough and did not need to be followed by an MUI edict (fatwa), Jonas said.
The head of the North Sulawesi Plantation Office, Rene Hosang, said clove farmers accounted for only 20 percent of North Sulawesi's population but at clove harvest time, the region's economy always experienced a boom as the harvesting activity also involved many people other than the farmers, namely people who would work as clove pickers and traders.
Every grand clove harvest would yield 15,000 - 20,000 tons and at the present market price of Rp 58,000 per kilogram, it would mean an income of Rp1.16 trillion per year to the farmers, he said.
