Denpasar, Bali - The world's famous tourist island of Bali said it does not worry about food security despite the long drought which has hit various areas in the country. Bali maintains surplus in food production mainly the staple rice and soybean production, head of the food crop division of the provincial agriculture office Ida Bagus Wisnuardana said here on Friday. "There is no problem in food security in Bali in the next several years," he said. Ida Bagus said Bali has 84,118 hectares of fields which are grown with rice and soybean by turns with production of 471,601 tons rice equivalent per year. It is more than enough for Bali, he said, adding Bali with a population of 4.1 million needs around 455,130 tons of rice including for the millions of tourists visiting that island every year. The surplus of around 16,450 tons is sent to Java, he said. He said the production could still be raised by improving productivity per hectare and through expansion of rice fields. Rice production per hectare in Bali averages 5.8 tons, or higher than the country's average of 5.1 tons, he said. Meanwhile, a professor of state Udayana University Dr Ir Dewa Ngurah Suprapta MSc appreciated the success of Bali in maintaining food security. Bali has to feed not only its population but also more than 6 million domestic and foreign tourists every year, Dewa said. (*)

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