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Indonesia needs to use more hybrid seeds too boost rice production: CIPS
Rice consumption in Indonesia will increase to 99.08 kilograms per capita by 2025 and 99.55 kg per capita by 2045 from 97.6 kg per capita in 2017.
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Farm workers harvest rice in Srirejo village, Malang, East Java. (The Jakarta Post/Aman Rochman)
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ndonesia needs to increase the use of hybrid seeds as part of its long-term national food strategy to meet a surge in rice demand, the Center for Indonesian Policy Studies (CIPS) has said.
CIPS further recommended that the government give more support to hybrid rice research centers that are seeking to create new variants of hybrid seeds by, for example, offering them incentives.
By supporting these researchers, Indonesia can reduce its dependence on imported hybrid seeds, CIPS senior researcher Indra Krishnamurti said in a discussion in Jakarta on Tuesday.
"In the future, the sustainability of local research can maintain and expand the development of hybrid rice in Indonesia," Krisna said during her presentation of a report titled "Prospects and Challenges of Hybrid Rice in Indonesia".
According to CIPS’ study, rice consumption in Indonesia will increase to 99.08 kilograms per capita by 2025 and 99.55 kg per capita by 2045 from 97.6 kg per capita in 2017. The figure is based on the assumption that the population will be between 311 million and 318.9 million in 2045 as compared to 264 million in 2019.
With hybrid seeds, farmers can harvest an average of 7 tons per hectare, higher than the more commonly planted inbred type that only yields around 5.15 tons per ha. The latter variant is also lower than the 6 ton per ha recommended by researchers in 2014 under the Agro Economic Research Forum to fulfill domestic needs.
Despite their benefits, hybrid seeds account for less than 1 percent of national rice plantation in 2014, CIPS found, and the figure has remained relatively stagnant in recent years.
