Rice production to grow by 6% next year: Official
Rice production to grow by 6% next year: Official
JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia, hard hit by this year's protracted
drought, will boost rice production by six percent next year by
improving productivity, a senior official at the Ministry of
Agriculture says.
"Our objective in the 1994-95 farming season is to prepare the
foundation so that rice production can increase by six percent
next year," Director General of Food Crop and Horticulture Amrin
Kahar said Thursday.
The 1994-95 planting season covers the October-March period.
The government has announced that this year's prolonged
drought will cause a drop in the country's rice production by
around four percent to 27.7 million tons of husked rice, which is
slightly above the country's total consumption of around 26.7
million tons.
A six percent increase, therefore, should lead to rice
production of 29.36 million tons of husked rice.
About 90 percent of Indonesia's population, the world's fourth
largest, consume rice as their main staple. Indonesia became
self-sufficient in rice in 1984 after being the world's largest
rice importer for decades.
Kahar said that to meet the six percent increase, the
government will promote the use of urea tablets in 1.3 million
hectares of rice fields in 25 regencies in Java. The fields cover
about 40 percent of the island's entire rice fields.
"We plan that all rice farmers living in those areas must now
use urea tablets as their main fertilizer," he said.
The implementation of the campaign will be carried out mostly
by regional authorities under the supervision of the agricultural
ministry, he added.
The government recently decided to maintain the subsidy for
urea fertilizers, leaving their price fixed at Rp 260 (about 11
U.S. cents) per kilogram for the powder form and Rp 295 per
kilogram for the urea tablets.
Kahar also pointed out that using urea tablets should increase
rice production by, at least, 500 tons per hectare.
Supply
Kahar explained that the government will ensure good
coordination among the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of
Industry, the Ministry of Finance, fertilizer producers,
provincial administrations and cooperatives to guarantee adequate
supplies of urea tablets.
He also said that the government will provide special credit
facilities to help farmers partially finance purchases of urea
tablets, which will be sold at village cooperatives.
Indonesia's urea plants, all of which are state-owned,
currently have a total production capacity of 6.22 million tons.
PT Pupuk Sriwijaya, the biggest producer, has a capacity of 2.28
million tons.
Kahar said the use of urea tablets will increase farmers's
income by 7.77 percent and raise the index of their real income
to 104.67 from 99.3 at present.
This is possible, Kahar said, because the government recently
raised the floor price of unhusked rice paid by the National
Logistics Agency (Bulog) to village cooperatives by 11.11 percent
to Rp 400 per kilogram, and husked rice by 11 percent to Rp 657
beginning Jan. 1, 1995.
Succeed
Meanwhile, on a separate occasion, agricultural expert Soedodo
Hardjoamidjojo, who was recently awarded a professor's position
at the Institute of Agriculture of Bogor in West Java, said
yesterday that the government's ambition to boost rice production
through intensification is "likely to succeed."
"Taking all factors into consideration, it is quite likely
that they will succeed in achieving the six percent increase in
rice production next year through the urea tablet campaign,"
Soedodo told The Jakarta Post in a telephone interview.
He warned, however, that all intensification means will no
longer be a viable option once the government needs to boost the
national average rice productivity to more than five tons per
hectare.
Government figures show that Indonesia's rice productivity is
about 4.5 tons per hectare at present. (hdj)