Increase production of corn: President

JAKARTA (JP): President Soeharto ordered 16 provincial governments yesterday to boost corn production and help the country cut back on imports.

Soeharto said the government has carried out special steps and partnership programs in these provinces to increase corn production and to save "a large amount" of state revenue.

Soeharto was speaking at a ceremony to honor several farming groups, businesses and local government officials involved in agriculture.

Soeharto said Indonesia's soybean production should also be increased because demand for the commodity had continued to rise and caused the country to rely heavily on imports.

"Food security is the main prerequisite in guaranteeing political, social and economic stability," Soeharto said in the ceremony at Merdeka Palace, also attended by Vice President Try Sutrisno, Minister of Agriculture Sjarifudin Baharsjah, State Minister of Women's Roles Mien Sugandhi and Minister of Cooperatives and Small Enterprises Subijakto Tjakrawerdaja.

The Ministry of Agriculture's Director General for Food and Horticulture, Amrin Kahar, was quoted by Antara as saying soybean production currently reached 1.2 tons per hectare and was sold at Rp 800 (35 U.S. cents) per kilogram. Imports were sold below this price.

Amrin said Indonesia's soybean plantations could produce about two tons per hectare.

"In fact several farmers in Yogyakarta and Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara, could reach a productivity of 4.3 and 4.2 tons per hectare," he said.

Indonesia's soybean production reached 1.9 million tons a year while demand was 2.3 million tons a year. As a result, Indonesia has had to import between 400,000 and 600,000 tons of soybean each year.

The Ministry of Agriculture aims to stop soybean imports all together by the end of the Sixth Five-Year Development Plan in 1999. (pwn)