Synchronizing Agricultural Trade Regulations: Case Study from Subang Regency

Government agricultural policy in Indonesia in terms of product trade has not reflected perfectly the principles of fairness, i.e., fair play, for the poor. Powerless farmers are strongly affected by inadequate laws, regulations, and bureaucracy. This condition might be complicated by the enactment of decentralization in the country, i.e., stipulated in Article 10 and 11 of Law No. 22 of 1999. Decentralization empowers local governments the ability to regulate and make policies that would be more pro-welfare to farmers as well as to local trading of agricultural commodities at the provincial and regency, i.e., city, level. The national government only facilitates and coordinates national policies which leaves local authorities the power to control and guide local development. In this chapter, secondary data obtained from government sources alongside direct interviews of stakeholders examine how pineapple performs as a cash crop in different parts of Indonesia. The research attempts to synchronize national-provincial-regency level difficulties by considering Indonesia’s legislation in trading agricultural commodities. This chapter suggests the need for better national policies on price stabilization, growth stimulus, legal protection, and prosperity-based strategies for increasing pineapple farmers’ welfare.