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erauke regency in Papua, which has long been known as the center of rice production in eastern Indonesia, is looking to export rice to neighboring countries in the Pacific region.

With 64,000 hectares of fields, the local administration is currently mapping areas suitable for planting quality rice varieties for export purposes.

“Among the rice varieties we are developing are Inpari 30, Inpari 31, Inpari 32, Inpari 33, Inpari 43 and the aromatic unsued 1 variety that can be planted in wet and dry fields and has a high tolerance withstanding conditions in which water is lacking,” Merauke Agriculture Agency head Edy Santosa said.

He said that of the 64,000 ha of fields, rice had been planted in only 30,000 ha thus far. Of the 30,000 ha already planted, 234 ha were specially designed for seedlings.

“We are now preparing 10,000 tons of seedlings to be planted in the second planting season,” Edy said, adding that the regency was currently waiting for the harvest for the first planting season.

He also said that from the 30,000 ha of productive fields, the regency was expecting to harvest some 10,000 tons of rice. “We had the target of producing 20,000 tons of rice because we harvest twice a year,” he said.

The target, he went on, of producing 10,000 tons of rice for export purposes was not difficult to achieve because the entire process had been mechanized, starting from field cultivation to the process of turning unhusked rice into rice. “We have prepared 6,000 ha of field to plant the export-quality rice so that the target of producing 10,000 tons of rice could be achieved,” he said.

Non-formal exporting activities had been conducted by traders in the RI-PNG border area, especially in Sota district, and every month PNG citizens came to Sota to buy between six and seven tons of Merauke rice, he added.

To directly export the commodity from Merauke to PNG or other countries in the Pacific region, he said, a new regulation was needed because according to the prevailing regulation, exports could only be shipped from exporting seaports, such as in Makassar, South Sulawesi. Seaports in Merauke and Jayapura were not allowed to directly export.“We were expecting a new regulation that would allow regions in border areas to directly export commodities to the bordering countries, such as in Papua, which borders Papua New Guinea,” he said.

Merauke has been a buffer zone for rice supplies for other regencies in Papua and West Papua, particularly those in southern Papua such as Asmat, Boven, Digoel, Fakfak, Mappi and Yahukimo.

For other regions in Papua, rice was supplied according to need. Last year, for example, Merauke sent 2,000 tons of rice to Jayapura.

The most challenging thing for farmers in Merauke so far, according to Edy, was the availability of fertilizers in the region.

This year, for example, the regency received only 7,000 tons of subsidized fertilizers while the actual need for fertilizers was 36,000 tons.

“In looking to meet the export target, this year we would bring in non-subsidized fertilizers to the regency,” said Edy, adding that the regency administration only opened up the opportunity to bring in non-subsidized fertilizers without allocating funds for the purchase of it.

A kilogram of subsidized fertilizers costs between Rp 1,800 (1.3 US cents) and Rp 2,300 in Merauke, while non-subsidized varieties cost Rp 7,000 to Rp 7,500 per kilogram.

“We hope the central government increases the quota for the subsidized fertilizers to support the farmers’ rice production in quality, quantity and continuity,” he said.

Meanwhile, PT Pupuk Indonesia said it was now conducting research in Yabamaru village to find ways to boost agricultural productivity in the region.

The research was meant to identify and evaluate technology used by the farmers to find innovative and adaptive methods to boost productivity, said Arief Prapsoedi, the operational director of PT Pupuk Indonesia Pangan, a subsidiary of PT Pupuk Indonesia.