1996 rice production may reach 51.16m tons

JAKARTA (JP): The government is optimistic that Indonesia will be able to achieve its target for this year's rice production of 51.16 million tons, a 2.6 percent increase over the 49.86 million tons reached last year.

The Ministry of Agriculture's Director General for Food Crops and Horticulture, Amrin Kahar, said yesterday that if the target is achieved, it would be Indonesia's largest to date.

"Last year's production, which was estimated at 49.86 million tons, is already the largest that we have ever had in Indonesia's history," Amrin said during a break of a national meeting of officials overseen by his office.

He said that based on estimates of the Central Bureau of Statistics, the production of almost all food crops -- which include maize, sweet potatoes, peanuts and soybeans -- and horticultural products last year increased drastically over 1994 levels.

Maize production soared by 19.71 percent to 8.2 million tons last year; soybeans by 7.49 percent to 1.6 million tons; peanuts by 19.97 percent to 758.21 million tons; and sweet potatoes by 15.85 percent to 2.14 million tons.

Only cassava production dropped by 2.85 percent last year from the previous year's 15.73 million tons.

"Our success in increasing production has cast away doubts on our ability to increase food crop production, especially of rice, maize and soybeans," he said. Indonesia currently imports the three commodities on an incidental basis when domestic production is unable to meet local demand.

Amrin estimated that last year's favorable results would make it easier to achieve this year's targets.

This year's rice production target of 51.16 million tons, he said, would be achieved through government efforts, which include the development of intensive-farming methods and high-quality gogo-type rice, the extension of farming areas in irrigated regions and the opening of new rice fields in tidal areas and peat land in Central Kalimantan.

In terms of harvested areas, almost all food crop commodities recorded higher figures for the January to February period of this year, compared to corresponding periods in 1995 and 1994.

The harvested areas for rice during the January to February period was 66.49 percent higher than the 1.13 million hectares recorded last year.

The only commodity whose harvested areas decreased was mung beans, which dropped by 51 percent from the 66,500 hectares recorded during the January to February period of 1995.

Planted areas for rice, maize, soybeans, cassava and sweet potatoes during the 1995/96 planting season -- extending from October 1995 to January 1996 -- were also higher than those recorded in the corresponding periods in 1994/95 and 1993/94.

Amrin said yesterday the government's program for the current (1996/97) fiscal year is to sustain the country's self- sufficiency in rice and become self-sufficient in maize and soybeans.

To achieve the target for this year, Amrin said, the Ministry of Agriculture's Research and Development Agency has developed high-quality rice varieties such as the Membramo and Cibodas types -- which can increase harvests by up to 15 percent per hectare -- and high-quality varieties designed for dry areas such as the Gajah Mungkur, Kalimutu, Way Rarem and Jati Luhur rice types.

The ministry also plans to apply hybrid rice varieties, which can increase productivity by one to two tons per hectare.

Responding to questions from reporters, Amrin said the government has no plans to develop or increase the production of glutinous rice, because the demand remains too small and the costs -- particularly for research and development -- are too high.

The state-owned aircraft manufacturer, PT IPTN, recently counter-traded two of its aircraft for 110,000 tons of Thai glutinous rice.

The amount was expected to meet domestic demand for at least 1.5 years. Last year, Indonesia's imports for glutinous rice reached about 80,000 tons.

Amrin said that it would be better if the funds for research and development went to rice rather than to glutinous rice which, in Indonesia, was highly prone to diseases.

In the 1970s and 1980s, he said, a plant disease which originated from glutinous rice had spread to other rice varieties, resulting in failed harvests. (pwn)