RI No Longer Imports Rice: Minister

Surabaya, E Java, Nov 30 (Antara) - As of this year, Indonesia has stopped importing rice due to its self-reliance program, State Enterprises Minister Dahlan Iskan said. "Actually, we did not need imported rice last year, but we imported it not because we ran short of the staple, but we wanted to build our stocks in the event of disasters," he said at a seminar on national food security here on Saturday. The nation's rice needs currently stand at 3.6 million tons, he said. "Bulog (the national logistics board) has been able to achieve the target (of 3.6 million tons) since last year. But we imported it last year in anticipation of possible disasters. We did not object to students protesting against the rice imports. The important thing was that the people would not run short of rice in case of disasters," he said. However, as of this year the country no longer imported rice. "The problem is that our rice still is of a low quality because it is kept at warehouses too long," he said. To overcome the quality problem, Bulog stores rice and unhulled rice at its warehouses with the guidance of farmers in Bantul, Yogyakarta, he said. "At the suggestion of the farmers, Bulog will keep 20 percent of its stocks in unhulled rice so that the quality of our rice will not be poor," he said. (*)