RI targets higher rice and sugar production

Indonesia says it will increase unhusked rice production to 68.8 million tons in 2011, up from 65.98 million tons in 2010.

Agriculture Minister Suswono said on Wednesday that the government would take several measures to reach its target, including opening new areas to cultivation and maintaining fertilizer and seed subsidies.

The ministry would convert 104,639 hectares of idle and non-conservation land into cultivation areas for rice and other main crops such as corn, soybeans and sugar cane, Suswono said.

“We lose around 100,000 hectares of rice fields each year, while we can open only less than that. We have no choice other than to create new rice fields,” he said.

Suswono added that an expansion of cultivated land was mandatory to enhance productivity.

The Agriculture Ministry’s agricultural infrastructure and facilities director general Sumarjo Gatot Irianto said several places had been designated for new cultivation, including Bulungan, Kutai Timur, Kutai Barat, and Kutai Kartanegara regencies in East Kalimantan; Kubu Raya and Sambas regencies in West Kalimantan; Aceh Tengah regency in Aceh and several regencies in West Papua.

“In these places we will develop food estates on a scale of 2,000 to 3,000 hectares each,” he said.

Suswono said his ministry would also give Rp 16.55 trillion (US$1.831 billion) in fertilizer subsidies, Rp 1.85 trillion in seed subsidies and develop several new paddy varieties adapted to climate change.

Indonesia is expected to produce 65.98 million tons of paddy, equal to 38 million tons of rice, in 2010, against total national demand of 33 million tons.

Suswono said that the ministry estimated the nation would produce 22 million tons of corn in 2011, up from 17.85 million tons in 2010; and 1.01 million tons of soybeans, up from 905,000 tons.

Indonesia would also boost sugar production to 3.87 million tons in 2011, up from 2 million tons in 2010, after a weather-induced shortfall led to 700,000 tons of sugar imports, he said.

With these targets, the gross domestic product from the agricultural sector was expected to grow by 3.61 percent in 2011 as compared to 2.6 percent in the first three quarters of 2010, he said. (lnd)