RI suffers decline in soybean production<\/p>\n
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Indonesia has been suffering from an ongoing decline in
\nsoybean production over the last three years, according to an
\nofficial at the Ministry of Agriculture.<\/p>\n
Director general of food plant production Farid Bahar stated
\nin Jakarta on Monday that Indonesia's soybean production was
\nestimated to drop by 16 percent, to 852,582 tons this year from
\n1.02 million tons last year.<\/p>\n
National soybean production stood at 1.38 million tons in
\n1999.<\/p>\n
Farid said that low soybean production could not meet local
\nrising demand, forcing the country to import the commodity to
\nmeet the shortfall.<\/p>\n
Currently, he said, 60 percent of national demand for soybeans
\nwas being supplied by imports, mostly from the United States due
\nto their relatively lower cost.<\/p>\n
Farid attributed falling soybean production to the continuing
\nreduction of cultivated land over the last three years.<\/p>\n
Currently, there were only 707,229 hectares of cultivated land
\navailable for soybeans this year, a sharp decline from the
\n824,484 hectares last year and 1.55 million hectares in 1999.<\/p>\n
Other factors contributing to the decreasing soybean output
\nincluded low quality soybeans used by Indonesian farmers, bad
\nweather and various plant diseases.<\/p>\n
Furthermore, Farid explained, farmers were eager to plant the
\ncommodity but a long rainy season had hindered soybean
\nproduction.<\/p>\n
In addition, low soybean prices at local markets had further
\ndiscouraged farmers from planting the commodity.<\/p>\n
Farid explained that to boost soybean production, the
\ngovernment would spearhead a campaign to make available farmland
\nfor soybean production in a number of areas, including Java,
\nSouth Kalimantan, South Sulawesi and Irian Jaya.<\/p>\n
He said his office had invited private companies to enter the
\nsoybean business, as the market was expanding, while domestic
\noutput could not catch up.<\/p>\n
He estimated that next year, a total of 3.8 million hectares
\nof land would be available for soybean production.<\/p>\n
If that land were planted with soybeans, output would increase
\ndrastically, as one hectare of land could usually produce about
\n2.7 tons.<\/p>\n
However, he admitted that it would be hard to attract private
\nfirms to go into soybean production as most local banks were not
\nyet interested in the sector.<\/p>\n
"Banks still regard soybean plantations as high-risk and
\nbelieve that farmers will be unable to repay their loans. That's
\nwhy banks are reluctant to give them loans," he said.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/ri-suffers-decline-in-soybean-production-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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