REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA - The former Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla proposed to fuel subsidy diverted for soybean following the increasing price of soybean. "Government actually can take an action by giving the subsidy. The choice is to subsidize 40 million tonnes of fuel for the rich or subsidize two million tones (for soybean –Ed)," he said on Friday.

Soybean subsidy, he said, was cheaper than that for fuel. It only reaches 2,000 IDR per kilogram, compared to 4,000 IDR per liter for fuel.

"It only needs 3 trillion IDR," he said.

He also said that it was impossible for Indonesia to be self-sufficient in soybean because of the weather problems. "Because of the weather, the farmers prefer to plant corn," he said.

He argued that the soybean crisis, caused by drought in US, would occur until the next three months.

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