Indramayu regency to build Rice Center for farmers
Nana Rukmana, The Jakarta Post, Indramayu
The Indramayu regental administration will build a Rice Center this year to help improve rice quality and quantity, as well as improving the living standards of the regency's 300,000 farmers.
Head of Indramayu regency's Agriculture Office, Kusnomo Tamkani, said on Monday that the Rice Center would be built on 50 hectares land at a cost of around Rp 75 billion (US$7.9 million).
The administration is currently in the process of selecting a location for the center, with a choice of between Widasari and Jatibarang districts.
"The two districts are strategically located, and can be reached from every direction. Moreover, Widasari and Jatibarang are the main rice producing areas in Indramayu. We're still analyzing the location, but we plan to start the center's construction in the middle of this year," Kusnomo said.
The center was expected to improve living standards of the regency's 300,000 farmers, and the quantity and quality of rice from some 109,000 hectares of paddy in the regency.
Rice production from the regency ranges between 600,000 and 800,000 tones per year.
"The regency's production capacity is one of the biggest in West Java, which makes Indramayu the province's main rice center. We hope that after the Rice Center is built, farmers' living standards, as well as rice quality and quantity, will improve," Kusnomo said.
The Rice Center will include a rice processing complex, marketing center, farmers bank, as well as other supporting facilities.
The Rp 75 billion fund for the construction of the center will be allocated from the Indramayu regental budget, in addition to the West Java provincial budget and the state budget.
"For land appropriation, the provincial administration has provided Rp 2 billion. We will also ask the private sector to assist in building the Rice Center," he said.
Once the Rice Center is completed, it is hoped that it will be able to help in the marketing of Indramayu farmers' rice to other areas, such as Jakarta and cities in Sumatra.
"Indramayu is one of the main rice suppliers to the Cipinang rice market in Jakarta. But the farmers are always getting low prices because there's so many thugs in Cipinang," Kusnomo said, adding that so far, the farmers had also received orders to supply rice to as far afield as Riau Islands province.
He predicted that other regencies, like Majalengka, Cirebon and Subang, would also use the Rice Center once it is completed.
With its 109,000 hectares, Indramayu has the biggest farming area in the province, followed by Karawang regency with 80,000 hectares, Subang regency with 62,000 hectares, Majalengka regency with 60,000 hectares and Cirebon regency with 49,000 hectares.