Indonesia to import tons of soybean

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia will import about 500,000 tons of soybean from Thailand and the United States this year to meet domestic demand, a senior official at the Ministry of Agriculture said yesterday.

Director General of Food Crops and Horticulture Chairil Anwar Rasahan said in Bandar Lampung that imports this year would be less than last year's due to an increase in the country's soybean production.

He added that the increase was due to intensive efforts by the ministry and other parties to boost soybean production.

"Our soybean production is expected to reach 1.8 million tons this year while our consumption is a staggering 2.3 million tons. So we need to import at least 500,000 tons this year," he told Antara news agency after attending an initial soybean planting season in several resettlement areas in Lampung.

Chairil said that last year Indonesia imported about 700,000 tons of soybean from Thailand and the United States. The country's soybean production last year reached 1.4 million tons while demand stood at 2.1 million tons.

He said the ministry had cooperated with the Ministry of Transmigration and Resettlement of Forest Nomads in developing soybean plantations in resettlement areas.

The ministry has also introduced several methods in farming soybeans, including using biological fertilizers which reduce spending on chemical fertilizers such as urea and phosphate fertilizers but can increase soybean production.

"Basically, the soaring price of soybean caused by the plunge in the rupiah against the U.S. dollar is a good opportunity to attract farmers to plant soybean," he said. (gis)