ASEAN to set up rice reserve: Minister

ASEAN to set up rice reserve: Minister

Antara, Medan

Indonesian Agriculture Minister Bungaran Saragih disclosed on Thursday that member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) had agreed to form a regional rice reserve system.

Saragih made a statement on the sidelines of the 23rd meeting of ASEAN ministers of agriculture and forestry in the capital of North Sumatra province.

Under the system, all other members would try to contribute rice if an ASEAN member country suffered from a rice shortage.

Saragih pointed out that the form of cooperation within the scheme would need to be discussed further by a team of experts under the coordination of the ASEAN Secretariat.

He said however that he expects the cooperation to take effect as soon as possible because some ASEAN countries suffer from rice scarcity during certain seasons.

"In Indonesia's experience in 1998, the price of imported rice increased five-fold because the domestic rice stock was virtually non-existent, while stocks in other ASEAN countries were quite low," he said.

The minister made it clear however that even after putting the rice reserve system into practice, Indonesia might sometimes have to import rice from other countries outside ASEAN.