Bulog to boost stocks amid fear of fall in rice output

Adianto P. Simamora, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The State Logistics Agency (Bulog) will boost its rice buffer stock next year amid fears that the country's rice output could drop as farmers have delayed planting crops this year due to the prolonged drought.

Bulog chairman Widjanarko Puspoyo said the agency would take 1.5 million tons of rice into storage during the first months of next year, compared to the normal figure of 1.2 million tons.

"We will add 300,000 tons to our rice stock to stabilize the price of the commodity on the local market," Widjanarko said after meeting with the House of Representatives' Commission III for agriculture and forestry on Wednesday.

It has been feared that the price of rice could increase in the first months of next year due to lack of supplies caused by late planting by farmers.

"We will use our stocks to keep the rice price below Rp 3,000 (33 US cents) per kilogram," Widjanarko said.

Farmers normally plant rice in October and harvest their crops in December during the final harvest of the year.

However, the months-long drought has forced farmers to delay planting. But, planting could commence soon following reports that rain has been falling in many parts of the country.

The rainy season has reportedly started in several rice producing areas, such as in Sumatra and Kalimantan. In Java, the country's main producing area, the rains started this month.

If farmers plant their crops in December, harvest time will be in March.

Experts have said the delay in planting could cause serious difficulties for tens of millions of the country's poor farmers next year. They have also warned that March was not a good time for farmers to harvest their crops as it was usually rainy. Heavy rain can either ruin the harvests or lower the quality of yields.

Some weeks ago, before rain started falling in various parts of the country, the United States' National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOOA) said that the drought would continue for several months in several parts of Indonesia. This, the agency said, would force Indonesia to import more rice.

Rice is a staple for Indonesia's more than 200 million people.

Despite the drought, the Ministry of Agriculture was optimistic that the country could meet its unhusked rice output target of 52 million tons this year.

Fifty-two million tons of unhusked rice is equal to 30 million tons of rice.

Data from Bulog shows that the agency has signed contracts with Thailand, Vietnam, China and the United States to import some 1.7 million tons of rice this year, more than last year's figure of 1.5 million tons.

Widjanarko told the House that as of October, the agency had imported some 819,000 tons of rice.

"We hope another 217,500 million tons will arrive here in November and December," he said, adding that the remaining contracted shipments were expected to arrive next year.

Aside from the agency, private companies also import rice for the domestic market, but no data is available about their imports.

Indonesia achieved self-sufficiency in rice in 1984, for which then president Soeharto received an award from the United Nations' Food Agriculture Organization.

However, since then rice production has declined and Indonesia had to import almost five million tons of rice in 1999 amid the economic crisis.