Indonesia Self Sufficient in Rice : Deputy Minister
Rabu, 2 Oktober 2013 10:11 WIB
Malang, East Java (Antara) - Deputy Agriculture Minister Rusman Heriawan said Indonesia currently no longer needs to import rice as the country is already self sufficient in the main foodstuff.
"We are already self sufficient in rice but our target is to have a surplus of 10 million tons of hulled rice by the end of 2014 to form a reserve," Rusman said here on Wednesday.
He said currently the country produces around 34 million tons of hulled rice a year only slightly higher than domestic consumption of 33 million tons .
"We are set to reach the surplus target although even now the Board of Logistics is already in difficulty to hold its large stocks in its warehouses," he said.
He said harvest failure in some areas as a result of long drought was recorded only in 1 percent of the total planted areas.
Indonesia has around 9 million hectares of irrigated rice fields, he said.
He said in the country flooding in rainy seasons is more damaging to cause crop failure than dry season.
He said the government has set aside Rp2.7 trillion to help farmers suffering as a result of harvest failure this year.
"This year compensation for farmers is still in cash but next year we would provide insurance for farmers with premium subsidized by the government," he said.
He said Indonesia is potential to be self supplied in five commodities including rice, maize corn, soybean, and sugar.
He said there was almost no difficulty in reaching self sufficiency in rice but distribution still makes it difficult to end dependence on imports for corn.
The problem lies in inadequate infrastructure including transport facilities , he said.
It is also difficult to reach self sufficiency target for soybean as domestic production of 850,000 tons a year is still far short of consumption of 2.5 million tons, he said. (*)