Govt sets up ambitious plan to boost cotton production
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)