YOGYAKARTA – Good news for the Merapi IDPs. Those whose livestock were dead due to Merapi heat clouds exposure will be given compensation immediately. The amount of funds provided for this purpose is 25.5 billion Rupiah for 3,000 dead cattle. The statement was delivered by the coordinator of Merapi victim’s livestock identification team, Prof. Dr. drh. Ida Tjahajati, M.P., Friday (10/12).
Ida conveys that the cattle reimbursement will begin in mid-December through the agricultural department in each district. "This week it starts to be conducted through the agricultural department in each district," she said.
The dead cattle reimbursement fund, mentioned Ida, was taken from the 100 billion funds that had been prepared by the government to purchase live cattle. However, because the condition of Merapi is getting relatively better and the breeders do not want to sell their cows, concerns arose that the funds to purchase the live cattle are not utilized. "We proposed that the remaining of the 100 billion funds is used for dead cattle reimbursement and this was finally approved," said the chief of UGM veterinary medical aid post.
The Professor of UGM explains that the 25.5 billion funds will be disbursed immediately. However, the livestock replacements are not in form of money, but a living cow. Any dead cow will be replaced with a live cow with an average price of 8.5 million Rupiah. “We take the average price of the entire dead cows," she said.
Ida mentions that the livestock replacement fund is intended for four districts in Yogyakarta and Central Java. The funds allocation for Sleman Regency amounted to Rp21,360,500,000 for 2513 dead livestock. Meanwhile, Klaten is given Rp3,298,000,000 for 388 dead livestock. Next, Boyolali and Magelang are given Rp595,000,000 and Rp246,500,000 respectively to replace the 70 and 29 dead livestock.
Ida added that the dead livestock reimbursement agreement is based on the results of the identification team proposition in a meeting with National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB), Director General of Animal Husbandry and Animal Health Affairs, and the task force team. Ida is relieved to be able to successfully fight for the ideawhereas beforehand the dead cow reimbursement was planned by the government to be implemented in 2011 through a program of social assistance of the Ministry of Agriculture.