Govt sets up ambitious plan to boost cotton production

JAKARTA (JP): The government is embarking on an ambitious plan to boost the country's cotton fiber production to around 380,000 tons per year in the next five years from 2,500 tons at present.

Spokesman for the Ministry of Agriculture Bambang Subiantoro recently said the directorate general for plantations had laid out a plan to extend cotton plantations to an area of 190,000 hectares by 2000/2001.

At a production rate of 2,000 kilograms per hectare, the plantations are expected to produce 380,000 tons of cotton in the next five years, or 25 percent of domestic demand, he said.

In 1995, Indonesia produced 2,500 tons of cotton fiber, covering only 0.5 percent of total domestic needs. Almost 99.5 percent was imported.

He said the plan to boost the number of cotton plantations would involve the textile industry and other business sectors. The government is also studying the possibility of setting up large private cotton plantations.

The government drew up several plans a few years ago to develop cotton plantations in the country, but none have been carried out. In 1960, the government failed to develop 734 hectares of cotton plantations in Nusa Tenggara, and Asem Bagus in East Java. A state-owned cotton plantation firm tried to implement the plan in 1973 but also failed.

In 1978/1979, the government extended low-interest credit to farmers as part of its program, but the experiment proved unsatisfactory. The failure was caused by a lack of good seeds, disease, technology, the use of marginal land, the misuse of fertilizers. In 1990, the government stopped providing farmers with low-interest credit.

The government had called on the textile industry to participate in the last program, but only five of 2,318 textile firms around the country were interested.

Bambang said the government was optimistic that the current program would be successful because it had found suitable seeds for Indonesian land and the proper technology. The government also believes that the domestic textile industry will be more willing to participate this time. (jsk)