Govt to double agricultural exports

The government has set itself a target of raising exports of agricultural products to US$9 billion in 2009, or more than double this year's estimate of $3.7 billion, a senior official said on Tuesday.

Minister of Agriculture Anton Apriyanto said his ministry aimed to increase the annual production of food crops by 2 percent, horticulture by 5 percent, plantation commodities by 5 percent and livestock by 5 percent.

"These are among the eight priority targets to be achieved over the next five years," said the minister during a meeting with the House of Representatives agriculture commission.

Anton was quoted by Antara as saying that the contribution of the agriculture sector to gross domestic product would also be increased by 2.5 percent per annum.

"We also aim to increase farmers' real incomes by 3.5 percent per year, as well as strengthen food sovereignty by cutting imports of staple foods by an average of 10 percent each year," Anton said.

The new minister acknowledged that his predecessor had brought tremendous improvements to the country's agricultural sector, although he stressed that a host of problems, obstacles and challenges still remained.

One of the challenges, he said, was to ensure that the sector could play a key role not only in establishing food sovereignty but also in providing new jobs and spurring the national economy.

"It is hoped that the agricultural sector will increase their its foreign exchange contribution from $7.8 billion to $12 billion by 2009," he said. -- JP