Halt rice field conversion: Soeharto

JAKARTA (JP): President Soeharto yesterday emphasized the need to maintain technically-irrigated rice fields and prevent them from being converted to non-agricultural uses.

State Minister of Agrarian Affairs Soni Harsono, after meeting with Soeharto at the Bina Graha presidential office here, quoted the latter as saying that rice fields had to be preserved at all costs.

"Rice fields can be traded but their functions must not be changed," Soni said, quoting Soeharto.

Soni met Soeharto to report on the issue of the conversion of rice fields to other uses in various parts of Java.

In East Java, Governor Basofi Sudirman was reported to have issued a recommendation allowing the conversion of 700 hectares of rice fields and 300 hectares of coastal fish ponds in the Situbondo regency into a site of an oil refinery. The project was reportedly proposed by a private company controlled by businessman Probosutedjo.

"The conversion may not pose a problem for the local administration but we must bear in mind the national interest... We must not let subjective considerations be the basis for decisions so crucial to the country," said Soni, who is also the chairman of the National Land Agency.

Indonesia used to be the world's biggest rice importer before it became self-sufficient in 1984. Since 1994, however, the country had to rely on imports to make up shortfalls caused by long droughts and diseases.

In 1994, rice production fell to 46.6 million tons -- the lowest level in 15 years -- from 48.2 million tons in 1993. The decline was caused by unfavorable weather and plant diseases.

According to earlier reports, the conversion of technically- irrigated rice fields in Java to housing, roads and industrial uses has shrunk rice production in Java at a rate of 2 percent a year as the conversion reduced rice fields by a total of 900,000 hectares during the 1983-1993 period.

Java currently contributes 56 percent to the country's rice supplies. Irrigated rice fields -- a small percentage of which are also found outside Java -- contribute up to 95 percent to the country's production, and dry fields the remaining 5 percent.

Soeharto last December expressed confidence that Indonesia would be able to restore and maintain self-sufficiency in rice in the foreseeable future.

To reach this goal, Soeharto has ordered his staff to conduct crop-intensification methods and expand agricultural areas to boost rice production.

Soeharto was quoted by Soni as saying yesterday that the East Java governor's decision to allow the conversion of technically- irrigated rice fields to non-agricultural purposes might set a bad precedent.

Soni said that industrial estates, such as the one planned in Situbondo and a number of other places across Java, may be considered a way of generating employment and expanding the region's economy by local governments.

"But big business always wants the best of any deal. That's why we should consider whether it is worth giving them productive rice fields and lose the rice the land could have produced," he said.

Soni said the President was particularly concerned because technically-irrigated rice fields were developed at great cost.

"We have spent a lot of money on primary, secondary and tertiary irrigation canals. So all related government offices must join hands to protect them," Soni said. (pwn)

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