Long way to achieve self-sufficiency in rice production

Long way to achieve self-sufficiency in rice production

Rikza Abdullah, Contributor, Jakarta

This year's theme for World Food Day/TeleFood -- Water: Source of Food Security -- is very pertinent for Indonesia, a country of more than 210 million people and with abundant water resources but which has never been self-sufficient in food production.

Each year on Oct. 16 since 1981, member countries of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, celebrate World Food Day in commemoration of the organization's founding on that day in 1945.

The great achievement for Indonesia in its path toward food security was its attainment of rice self-sufficiency in 1940 and 1984, after the establishment of new irrigation facilities and the expansion of plantation areas. Before 1984, increased rice production was also the result of the introduction of more productive seeds and the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides.

However, the country was unable to sustain its rice self- sufficiency after 1940 due to the Japanese occupation from 1942 to 1945. The second time the country achieved rice self- sufficiency in 1984, Indonesia was honored with the FAO award. However, it was unable to maintain this because the rate of the county's rice production growth steadily declined to 1.5 percent per annum in the 1990s from 6.5 percent before 1984, while the population was growing by more than 2 percent a year.

As a result, Indonesia has been growing more dependent on food imports. In 1996, for example, the country imported 2.15 million tons of rice, 4.11 million tons of wheat, 617,000 tons of maize, 746,000 tons of soybeans and 1.31 million tons of sugar, according to the Central Board of Statistics (BPS).

Rice imports even soared to 4.75 million tons in 1999 before falling back to 1.35 million tons in 2000 and to 645,000 tons in 2001. The import of maize rose to 618,000 tons in 1999 and 1.15 million tons in 2000, but fell to 1.03 million tons in 2001, while imports of soybeans rose to 1.3 million tons before falling back to 1.27 million tons in 2000 and 1.13 million tons in 2001.

Imports of sugar and wheat were 2.4 million tons and 2.71 million tons respectively in 1999, 1.72 million tons and 3.59 million tons in 2000, and 1.49 million tons and 2.72 million tons in 2001.

The executive director of the Indonesian Food and Beverages Association (GAPMMI), Thomas Darmawan, commented that the decline in the import of these food products, except wheat, in 2001 should not necessarily indicate a decreases of their inflow into the country.

"The fact that the supplies of these products at markets are becoming more abundant indicates that large amounts are being smuggled into the country without being recorded by customs offices," he said.

According to the BPS, the country's rice production increased from 49.23 million tons of unhusked paddy in 1998 to 50.86 million tons in 1999 and 51.89 million tons in 2000, but fell to 49.59 million tons in 2001. Production is projected to decline further to 48.65 million tons this year.

Rustam Syarif, director general of water resources at the Ministry of Resettlement and Regional Infrastructure, said in a written address to a seminar here on Wednesday that efforts toward food security were being hampered by various problems affecting the operation of the country's irrigation networks.

The problems, he said, included damage to irrigated farm areas, the conversion of farmland into industrial and residential areas, and farmlands' heavy dependence on run-off river flow.

"An average of 100,000 hectares of irrigated farmland is damaged by floods and other natural disasters every year," he said. "During this year alone, about 172,000 hectares have been damaged thus far."

The country's total irrigated farmland, from which 80 percent of its rice is produced annually, is estimated at 7.28 million hectares.

"The conversion of irrigated farmland into industrial and residential areas averages about 15,000 hectares to 20,000 hectares per annum," Rustam said.

However, agricultural researcher Efendi Pasandaran said during the seminar on Wednesday the cumulative reduction of irrigated farmland in Java reached only 108,000 hectares during the last two decades due to the expansion of irrigation coverage on the island.

Java's total irrigated farmland, therefore, only decreased by 3.1 percent from 3.48 million hectares in 1980 to about 3.37 million hectares at the end of the 1990s, he said.

Rustam said most of the irrigated farmland was too dependent on run-off river flow, thereby causing the level of their productivity to be very much dependent on the volume of the river flow.

"Of the country's total farmland, only 719,000 hectares rely on irrigation facilities supplying constant flows of water," he said.

He was quoted by AIR magazine -- a monthly publication of the Directorate General of Water Resources -- as saying that drought during this year's prolonged dry season could cause a deficit of 5.85 billion cubic meters of irrigation water for Indonesia's farm areas, because water supplies were likely to reach only 33.06 billion cubic meters while demand was estimated at 38.91 billion cubic meters.

Fifteen provinces might suffer from an irrigation water deficit of up to 20 percent, while eight others (Aceh, Jambi, West Java, Central Java, Yogyakarta, Bali, and West and East Nusa Tenggara) might experience a deficit of between 20 percent and 50 percent.

Rustam told the seminar that Indonesia should improve the efficiency of its irrigation network if it wanted to sustain the level of its food production or achieve food security.

But unfortunately, he said, only between US$70 million and $80 million per annum have been allocated for the maintenance of existing irrigation facilities.

"Of this money about 60 percent to 85 percent is spent on the salaries of employees and administrative costs, while the remaining 15 percent to 40 percent is sufficient only for emergency repairs," he said. "Thus, funds for routine maintenance are not available."

Rustam said effective measures were needed to solve these problems, so the country could expand the coverage of its irrigation facilities.

"But there are other problems impeding the introduction of such measures," he noted. He said these problems included the weakness of institutions that should jointly formulate integrated policies on the management of water resources, investment planning and the supervision of environmental pollution.

"Furthermore, we have no regulation that requires that farmers who benefit from irrigation services make contributions for the maintenance of irrigation facilities," he said.

Rustam, as quoted by AIR magazine, said the government was now drafting a bill that, if enacted, would synchronize national and local institutions related to the development of water resources, and appoint farmers to manage irrigation facilities already established by the government for them.

The government, under Presidential Decree No. 123/2001, has also assigned a team to coordinate the management of water resources. The team is chaired by Coordinating Minister for the Economy Dorodjatun Kuntjoro-Jakti.