Corn production expected to rise to 9.2m tons

JAKARTA (JP): Domestic corn production is projected to increase to 9.2 million tons this year, up from around 8.9 million tons last year.

Minister of Agriculture Sjarifudin Baharsjah said Monday the area of hybrid corn crops would more than double to 1.2 million hectares from about 500,000 hectares at present because of the government's program to raise corn production.

Corn crop expansion projects are planned for six provinces: North Sumatra, Lampung, West Java, Central Java, East Java and South Sulawesi.

Indonesia imports about one million tons of corn annually; mainly hybrid corn to support domestic poultry food production.

Corn makes up 50 percent of poultry food and soybeans make up 15 percent.

Poultry husbandry has developed impressively in Indonesia with the public's demand for meat, milk and eggs increasing in the last few years because of a better economy.

Sjarifudin said that, aside from corn production, the ministry of agriculture was planning to increase the production of rice and other food commodities, like meat, fish and horticultural products, in the fiscal year 1997/1998.

The government had allocated Rp 1.5 trillion (US$635 million) for agriculture and forestry in its budget for the 1997/1998 fiscal year: Rp 880 billion of this would be given to the Ministry of Agriculture, he said.

According to data at the ministry, the government expects the country to produce 52 million tons of unhusked rice this year, up from last year's output of 51 million tons.

Soybean production is expected to increase from 1.9 million tons last year to 2 million tons this year.

Vegetable output is targeted to reach about 5.3 million tons, while fruit output is expected to reach 6.3 million tons.

Fish output is expected to increase 5.9 percent from last year to 4.7 million tons this year, including 3.7 million tons of saltwater fish, and one million tons of freshwater fish.

About 656.710 tons are expected to be exported this year, generating about $2.2 billion in revenue.

Sjarifuddin said the government would open 15 new fishing ports this year to increase production.

He expected the recent deregulatory measure which allowed the import of fishing boats would increase the national catch this year.

The government expects the country's number of fishing boats to increase to about 1,000 by the year 2000. It is allowing private firms to import about 340 fishing boats yearly starting this year.

Sjarifudin installed seven officials at his ministry on Monday, including Bambang Subiantoro as the chief of the appliance and administration office, Darman Bachri Hasibuan as the chief of the public relations office, Hardjono as the chief of the agricultural quarantine center and Togar Alam Napitupulu as the chief of the agricultural statistics office.

The minister of agriculture's secretary-general, Soetatwo Hadiwigeno, completed his term yesterday. He has been appointed the Food and Agriculture Organization assistant for the Asia- Pacific. He will be based in Bangkok, Thailand. (jsk)