Diversify diet to regain rice self-sufficiency<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia will likely regain self-sufficiency in
\nrice by 2000, when the middle class abandon their dependency on
\nrice and diversify their diets, an official of the Ministry of
\nAgriculture says.<\/p>\n
Atok Suprapto, head of the ministry's Database Center, said
\nover the weekend that the increase in rice consumption was
\nunavoidable because improved social welfare allowed the poor to
\nconsume rice.<\/p>\n
\"We can only rely on the middle class to shift their staple
\ndiet from rice to other high-calorie foodstuffs, like wheat, and
\nto diversify their menus, such as by increasing the intake of
\nprotein,\" he said after a ceremony during which Minister of
\nAgriculture Sjarifudin Baharsjah presented honorary medals to
\nformer ministry officials and long-serving civil servants.<\/p>\n
Quoting Sjarifudin, who had addressed the assembly earlier,
\nAtok said that Indonesia is expected to have a surplus of rice by
\n1999, or at the beginning of the seventh Five-Year Development
\nPlan.<\/p>\n
According to Atok, Indonesians consumed 126 kilograms of rice
\nper capita a year in 1984, when Indonesia's population was still
\n185 million.<\/p>\n
Presently, with a population of 197.3 million, the figure has
\nincreased to 130.7 kg of rice per capita a year.<\/p>\n
\"If we can cut back rice consumption to the 1984 level,
\nimagine how much rice we could save,\" he exclaimed.<\/p>\n
Indonesia, formerly the biggest rice importer in the world,
\nbecame self-sufficient in rice in 1984. Until 1993, the country's
\nrice exports exceeded imports. Since then, however, Indonesia has
\nhad to rely on imports.<\/p>\n
Import<\/p>\n
The National Logistics Agency (Bulog), which was set up to
\nmanage the distribution of basic food commodities and maintain
\ntheir prices at reasonable levels through market operations,
\nimported a large amount of rice last year due to a sharp decline
\nin rice production.<\/p>\n
The Central Bureau of Statistics said in June that the
\ncountry's rice production last year fell by 3.2 percent to 46.6
\nmillion tons of unhusked rice -- the lowest level in 15 years --
\nfrom 48.2 million tons in 1993.<\/p>\n
In spite of the imports, Bulog's chairman, Beddu Amang,
\ndisclosed last week that the agency currently has a rice stock of
\nonly 784,000 tons, which will increase to between 900,000 and 1
\nmillion tons by the end of the year.<\/p>\n
This is less than half of this year's target of 2.5 million
\ntons and is also lower than the average rice stock in the past
\nfive years.<\/p>\n
Beddu was quoted by Antara as saying that the low rice stock
\nwas \"unexpected\" and occurred in spite of the government's
\nefforts to loosen quality restrictions and to provide
\ntransportation and distribution incentives.<\/p>\n
As a solution, the government plans to conduct a crash program
\nwhich will include clearing more than 1 million hectares of swamp
\nand forest in Kalimantan to give way to new rice estates. (pwn)<\/p>",
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