Drought will affect RI's rice production

Drought will affect RI's rice production

JAKARTA (JP): The current drought plaguing Indonesia will
bring down the country's rice production to just over 49 million
tons from 51 million tons last year, Minister of Agriculture
Sjarifudin Baharsjah said yesterday.

Speaking after meeting with President Soeharto, Sjarifudin
said the severe drought would also affect other commodities,
including coffee, tea and palm oil.

But despite the decline in rice output, Sjarifudin said there
was no need to worry about a domestic shortage because enough was
stockpiled by the State Logistics Agency (Bulog) to last for four
or five months.

"There is no reason to worry about our national rice stock,"
Sjarifudin said.

He said the country's 200 million population consumed only
about 31 million tons a year based on a per capita consumption of
130 kilograms.

But Sjarifudin warned that the current drought might be longer
than expected as rains would not come before the end of December.

As of this month, at least 450,000 hectares of rice fields had
been damaged by the drought, the minister said.

"Rice (unhusked) production will drop 2.2 percent from 51.3
million tons last year to only 49.1 million tons this year," he
said.

His statement contradicted his prediction in July, when he
expressed confidence that despite the long dry season, this
year's rice output would still rise by 2 percent.

Rice is the main staple food for most of Indonesia's 200
million people.

To overcome the decline in output, Sjarifudin said the
government would take special measures, such as speeding up the
planting season.

The minister, however, did not say whether the government had
any plan to import rice this year.

In 1994, hurting from a prolonged dry season and increasing
population, Indonesia was forced for the first time in a decade
to import rice to meet domestic demand.

"Tea output will also drop by 30 percent, coffee by 40
percent ... and palm oil by 30 percent -- especially in Riau,
North Sumatra and Jambi," Sjarifudin said.

According to official statistics, tea plantations' total
acreage in Indonesia was about 158,000 hectares with an output of
158,000 tons in 1996.

The export of tea from January to May this year totaled
US$52.92 million.

Chairman of the Association of Indonesian Coffee Exporters
Oesman Soedargo estimated last month that coffee production this
year would drop by 60 percent.

The coffee harvest for 1997 was projected to fall to 180,000
tons this year from 500,000 tons last year, Oesman said.
(prb/rid)