Indonesia'a rice targeted at 52 million tons this year<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The government is upbeat the country's unhusked
\nrice production would meet the target of 52.19 million tons this
\nyear, despite an expected drought.<\/p>\n
Director General for Food Plants and Horticulture Amrin Kahar,
\nsaid over the weekend that the 1997 output estimate would exceed
\nlast year's production of 51 million tons.<\/p>\n
Amrin acknowledged that there could be a long draught this
\nyear but said that this possibility would not affect rice
\nproduction.<\/p>\n
He said to reach the target, the government would encourage
\nfarmers to introduce heavy yielding varieties like Memberamo,
\nCibodas, Maros, Batang Anai, Digul and Cilosari. These varieties
\nare more productive than the varieties currently used by farmers,
\nincluding IR 64 and Cisadane.<\/p>\n
The government would also improve irrigation networks in
\nfarmlands and decrease the after-harvest loss of between 15
\npercent and 20 percent in previous years to less than 10 percent
\nthis year, he said.<\/p>\n
Amrin said the government projected soybean production at 2.3
\nmillion tons this year, up from last year's target of 1.9 million
\ntons.<\/p>\n
Indonesia imports between 400,000 tons and 600,000 tons of
\nsoybean annually.<\/p>\n
He said the government hopes to stop importing soybean by the
\nend of the sixth five-year development plan in 1999.<\/p>\n
The main obstacle in the efforts of raising soybean production
\nat present is the fact that there are too few soybean leading
\nvarieties available, Amrin said.<\/p>\n
The country's total 1.7 million-hectare soybean fields have
\nthe average productivity of 1.1 tons per hectare a year. With a
\nleading variety, the land would be able to produce above four
\ntons of soybean per hectare a year, he said.<\/p>\n
The government projected corn production would reach 9.2
\nmillion tons this year, up from last year's target of 8.9 million
\ntons.<\/p>\n
Indonesia had imported about one million tons of corn
\nannually, which was mainly hybrid corns for poultry food.<\/p>\n
Poultry food is 50 percent made up by corn and 15 percent by
\nsoybeans, he said.<\/p>\n
The ministry of agriculture projected about 500,000 hectares
\nof land in North Sumatra, Lampung, West Java, Central Java, East
\nJava and South Sulawesi would be planted with hybrid corns this
\nyear.<\/p>\n
Aside from hybrid corns, the government would also promote the
\nplanting of composite corns, which are consumed as daily food by
\nsome tribes in the country, in West Nusatenggara, East
\nNusatenggara, East Timor, Southeast Sulawesi, and North Sulawesi.<\/p>\n
Amrin was optimistic that Indonesia would become a corn
\nexporter in the near future. (jsk)<\/p>",
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