Ministry insists on retaining rice import ban

Rendi A. Witular, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Minister of Agriculture Anton Apriyantono is insisting on continuing the current ban on rice imports until later this year in order to protect the domestic price of unhusked rice on projections that the country would produce sufficient rice to meet its own needs.

The ministry would propose maintaining the import ban policy at the upcoming meeting with the Ministry of Trade and state- owned commodity supply firm Perum Bulog, scheduled for later this month.

"Despite natural disasters in some rice-producing areas here, our rice production is likely to be sufficient and farmers are now happy with the basic price of rice. Thus, I don't recommend that the policy be revoked," Anton told The Jakarta Post.

Anton said unhusked rice production this year was estimated to reach 53 million tons, more or less similar to last year. The amount is equivalent to 32 million tons of husked rice, while Indonesia's annual consumption is projected to be 31 million tons.

The price of unhusked rice is currently at above the basic price of Rp 1,330 per kilogram.

Anton's remarks came at a time when calls for the country to import rice are on the rise in order to secure domestic supply, with recent disasters in some parts of the country feared to cause disruptions to supply.

Before the ban was applied last year, local rice farmers complained over the low basic price of their product following the flow of imported rice from India, Vietnam and Thailand, which were all sold at cheaper prices.

The price slumped further following rampant rice smuggling.

The ban was introduced during the administration of president Megawati Soekarnoputri on optimism that the country would be self-sufficient in rice for the first time since the 1980s.

The government is only allowing imports of certain types of rice, such as organically grown rice and Japanese rice.

Elsewhere, regarding the reemerge of cases of bird flu in some part of the country, Anton said the ministry would closely supervise illegal inflows of poultry products from bird flu- stricken countries in the region.

"At present, there are no new cases of bird flu here, however, we are still closely monitoring the containment efforts against the disease, and at the same time being aware of smuggled poultry products from countries affected by the disease," said Anton.

According to the World Health Organization, bird flu is an infectious disease of birds caused by type A strains of the influenza virus. Bird flu devastated the poultry industries of numerous Asian countries last year.