Oyos Saroso H.N., The Jakarta Post, Bandarlampung | Mon, 07/19/2010 10:14 AM
Lampung aims to become the national center for hybrid rice over the next five years to shore up its self-reliance on food, the governor says.
“We can realize this projection because Lampung is rich in land and human resources,” Governor Sjachroedin Z.P. said recently. “We are going to develop imported hybrid rice along with locally planted high-quality rice. That way, we can enable farmers to choose the seeds they think can be adjusted to their budget.”
Lampung attained acknowledgment from the government last year for its self-reliance ability in food. The acknowledgment lends itself to the province’s success in developing hybrid rice at the Integrated Hybrid Center (IHC) in Trimurjo, Central Lampung.
A high-quality rice variety found by a local farmer, Surono Danu, has been developed and distributed across Indonesia.
The IHC is managed by PT Sumber Alam Sutera (SAS), a subsidiary of Artha Group. The company has also established the Integrated Research Center (IRC) in Tanjungan, Central Lampung.
The IHC produces hybrid rice seeds or what it calls F1, tests new hybrids, develops new varieties of rice as well as provides training to farmers and other agricultural stakeholders, while the IRC researches varieties before being developed into F1 seeds.
“The development of hybrid rice in Indonesia has been slow because the farmers have little knowledge in the field,” SAS director Babay Chalimi said.
The company has brought in rice experts from China in an effort to enable transfer of technology.
“As a result, PT SAS has been able to increase the production of hybrid rice from 2009,” he said. Rice varieties developed by the company include Bernas Prima, Bernas Super and Bernas Rokan.
Fifteen kilograms of Bernas Prima, according to Babay, planted on a 1-hectare paddy field can produce 11-14 tons of unmilled rice. The seeds are sold between Rp 40,000 (US$4) and Rp 50,000 per kilogram compared to ordinary seeds’ Rp 7,000.
Little knowledge on agricultural technology by farmers remains an obstacle to the development of hybrid rice. “Therefore, we still depend on imports to procure high-quality hybrids,” Chalimi said.
Data at the Lampung Agricultural Office shows the province consumes 100,000 tons of seeds a year, 20 percent of which are hybrid varieties.
Chalimi said PT SAS would encourage the development of hybrid seeds nationwide in order to make Indonesia hybrid seeds exporter.
The hybrid seed germination developed by PT SAS since 2008 in several regencies incorporates 800 hectares.
Meanwhile, Surono Danu, 59, claimed that Sertani-1, the seed variety he developed from locally planted rice, had more productivity than imported seeds.
He said Sertani, priced at 20,000 per kilogram, could yield between 13 and 14 tons of unmilled rice per hectare.
Surono formulated Sertani-1 following his research on 187 kinds of seeds from Lampung, Bengkulu and South Sumatra. Sertani-1, he said, had to be planted within 105 days.
“Sertani-1 can grow in dry fields. The farmers should not worry about drought. The amount of grains are far fewer than other varieties. A plant can hold up to 400 grains,” he said.
Surono is currently developing what he calls Emespe. “Sertani-1 grows in dry land while Emespe grows in wet land,” he said.
Agricultural statistics show Lampung produced 2.67 million tons of unmilled rice last year.
