Maintaining rice self-sufficiency vital: Minister<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Agriculture Sjarifudin Baharsjah
\nsaid again yesterday that it was important to maintain self-
\nsufficiency in rice because importing too much rice could lead to
\neconomic and political instability.<\/p>\n
At a hearing with members of the House of Representatives'
\nCommission IV for agriculture, forestry and transmigration
\nissues, Sjarifudin said rice was still a strategic commodity that
\ninfluenced most of the country's key economic indicators,
\nincluding inflation rates.<\/p>\n
\"So if Indonesia imports too much rice, it would be the same
\nas importing instability,\" he said.<\/p>\n
\"When Indonesia joins free trade, it means that not only can
\nmanufactured goods freely enter the country, but agricultural
\nproducts as well,\" he said.<\/p>\n
He said it was estimated that in 2003 Indonesia would need at
\nleast 10 million hectares of rice fields to produce the 60
\nmillion tons of (unhusked) rice needed to maintain self-
\nsufficiency that year.<\/p>\n
This meant an additional two million to 2.5 million hectares
\nwere needed and most of this was expected to be outside Java.<\/p>\n
The estimates were based on predictions of a 1.6-percent
\nannual population growth and a 5.5-percent growth in the annual
\nper capita income.<\/p>\n
Sjarifudin said rice consumption was 130 kilograms per capita
\nper year, down from 135 kg about four years ago.<\/p>\n
The decline was a result of a rise in per capita income that
\nled to more extensive food diversification.<\/p>\n
\"Rice fields in Java are diminishing at a rate of 40,000
\nhectares to 50,000 hectares a year. Most were converted into non-
\nagricultural areas but some are developed into horticulture crop
\nareas,\" he said.<\/p>\n
He said the government was now carrying out programs which
\nwould enable Indonesia to maintain its rice self-sufficiency
\nwhich was achieved for the first time in 1984.<\/p>\n
The government intended to increase the productivity of rice
\nfields, which now stood at around 4.5 tons per hectare, he said.<\/p>\n
Sjarifudin said the government would continue to promote high-
\nquality rice varieties -- such as the Mamberamo, Cibodas and
\nMaros varieties -- which could yield up to 6.5 tons per hectare.<\/p>\n
\"We also cooperate with the (Philippine-based) International
\nRice Research Institute (IRRI) which produces rice varieties that
\ncan yield up to 12 tons a hectare,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Sjarifudin said only 30 percent of Indonesia's farmers used
\nhigh-yield rice varieties.<\/p>\n
At the same time, the government was also making efforts to
\nextend the area of rice fields outside Java.<\/p>\n
He acknowledged it was now difficult to source funds for
\ndeveloping huge irrigation systems. The government would
\ntherefore opt to build smaller, more simplified irrigation
\nsystems.<\/p>\n
He said rice fields in tidal zones were also being developed
\nas an alternative to using irrigation systems.<\/p>\n
But he said that the government's ambitious one million
\nhectare peat land project in Central Kalimantan was at a stage
\nthat required extra care.<\/p>\n
The project involves converting one million hectares of peat
\nland into agricultural areas, including rice fields.<\/p>\n
He explained that the government's special team to oversee the
\nproject had decided not to wait until the project's drainage
\nsystem was completed before starting planting.<\/p>\n
\"The special team decided that once part of the drainage
\nsystem is finished, transmigrants should start relocating (from
\ndensely-populated Java) so they can begin (rice and horticulture
\ncrop) cultivating,\" he said.<\/p>\n
It was discovered later on, however, that the drainage system
\nand the floodgates did not function properly.<\/p>\n
As a result, the government must take \"emergency steps\" to
\nsave the 2,000 hectares where planting and cultivating had
\nalready started, he said.<\/p>\n
Peat land is a special type of soil which should be developed
\nas soon as it is opened for cultivation, experts say.<\/p>\n
Failing to do so -- and leaving it exposed to over-draining --
\nwould result in the land being unproductive and unrecoverable for
\nagricultural purposes.<\/p>\n
Experts say that without additional minerals, the land is
\nunsuitable for agriculture. (pwn)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/maintaining-rice-self-sufficiency-vital-minister-1447893297",
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