Govt to open new areas for paddy fields

JAKARTA (JP): The government plans to develop two million hectares of new paddy fields outside Java to secure rice supplies for the country's growing population, a senior government official said.

Director general for facilities and infrastructure at the Agricultural Ministry Ato Suprapto said the ambitious project would be realized next year, focusing on the provinces of South Sumatra, Jambi, Riau, Bengkulu and West Kalimantan,

"Opening new areas and maintaining the present agricultural areas are important programs at this moment," Ato was quoted as saying by news agency Antara on Friday.

Ato quoted data from the Central Statistics Office (BPS) revealing some one million hectares of paddy fields were converted into non agricultural areas during the period of 1983 to 1993.

He further quoted the Japan Investment Cooperation Agency (JICA) as saying that an estimated 40,000 to 50,000 hectares of agricultural lands in Java had been converted into housing and industrial projects.

Ato warned that without new paddy fields, the country's rice output would not be able to meet the growing demand of the country's 210 million people.

He said at present Indonesia's annual rice consumption was 135 kilogram per capita.

"If domestic rice production fails to meet the population's demand, we may be in danger of becoming the world's largest rice importer," Ato said.

Government data shows the country imported 3.5 million tons of rice or 10 percent of the domestic demand, from India, Vietnam, Thailand, and Myanmar last year.

He said his ministry would cooperate with the Ministry of Settlement and Regional Development as well as the Ministry of Transmigration and Population in implementing the two million hectare paddy fields project.

Financing is expected from the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank and donor countries, he said.

The government also expects modern technology support from China, he added.

However, Ato refused to specify the amount of investment for the project, saying his ministry was still calculating the cost.

"For sure, we will have concrete details of the project by December 2000, we will issue a joint ministerial decree," Ato said referring to the Minister of Agriculture, the Minister of Settlement and Regional Development and the Minister of Transmigration and Population.

Former president Soeharto initiated a similar ambitious project in Central Kalimantan when the country lost its self-sufficiency in rice production in the early nineties.

Called the "one million hectare peat land project", the ambitious 1996 Rp 2 trillion (US$234 million) project came to a sorry end, as the land was found to be unsuitable for rice cultivation.

Some 63,000 farmers from outside the province have migrated to the area. (bkm)