RAINY SEASON LIKELY TO AFFECT GOVT'S SALT OUTPUT TARGET

By Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, Nov 3 (ANTARA) - The arrival of the rainy season can disturb the country's salt production and prevent the government from achieving its target to produce some 1.4 million tons of salt this year.          Though the government is still optimistic,  salt farmers have  expressed pessimism about the possibility of achieving the target.          "The target is difficult to achieve because up to October this year production has only reached about 55 percent,"  Chairman the Iodized Salt Producers Association (Aprogakob)  Slamet Untung Irredenta said here on Thursday.          He said that several salt production centers in West Java and Central Java had begun to stop production in line with the arrival of the rainy season. "It is predicted that until the end of the harvest period in mid December 2011 additional production would, at the most, be only 30 percent of the target," he said.          Slamet who is also president director of PT Garam (salt) predicted that salt production throughout Indonesia was only about 1.1 - 1.2 million tons until the end of the harvest seasons in 2011.           The same pessimism is also aired by  Chairman of Salt Farmers Association (Aspag) for Sampang (East Java) branch, Jafar Sodiq.          "West Java has stopped production. Some producers in Central Java have also followed suit while production in East Java has begun to be disturbed by cloudy conditions," he said.          However, the ministry of maritime affairs and fisheries   is still optimistic with the target, which it said was achievable.          Director General of Marine Resources, Coastal Areas and Small Islands of the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Sudirman Saad said up to November 1, people's salt production in 40 districts /salt producing cities in 10 provinces has reached 881,603 tons.          "This has accounted for more than 60 percent. We are optimistic that up to the end of the harvest seasons, East Java will produce 900,000 tons of salt and West Nusa Tenggara 350,000 tons. It will be added with production from other regions so that the total production would reach 1.4 million tons," Sudirman said.          The government is implementing a salt self-efficiency program  in the 40 districts in 10 provinces in Indonesia. Under the program, the government is intensifying salt production on a total area of 4,365 hectares belonging to farmers and increase salt production from 60 tons to 80 tons per day.          Data at the ministry of maritime affairs and fisheries indicated that the national need for salt in 2011 is set at 2.9 million tons, consisting of 1.l million tons of consumption salt and 1.8 million tons of industrial salt.          Fadel Muhammad when he was still maritime and fisheries minister  recently said  actually Indonesia's total need for salt reached 3.4 million tons this year.          The country's total need for salt was formulated by related ministries. The  four related ministries have agreed to set the national need for salt at 3.4 million tons, consisting of 1.6 million tons for consumption and 1.8 tons for industry.          "The need for 3.4 million tons of salt was agreed by four ministries, namely the trade ministry, the industry ministry, the maritime and fisheries ministry (KKP) and the office of coordinating minister for economic affairs," Fadel Muhammad said.          This data is almost the same as that available at the ministry of industry where the national need for salt in 2011 is set at 3.15 million tons which consist of 1.38 million tons of salt for consumption  and 1.77 million tons of salt for industry.          Up to now, almost all salt for industry need still has to be imported because domestic production is not yet able to meet it.          Some of the salt for consumption is also still imported from other countries because the production of salt farming which according to the ministry of industry covered an area of 25,064 hectares is fluctuating in accordance with the climate conditions.          Data at the Central Board of Statistics (BPS) showed that salt import in the January - September 2011 period totaled 2.33 million tons worth US$122.52 million. Salt is mainly imported from Australia, India, Singapore, Germany and  New Zealand.          Fadel Muhammad when he still led the maritime and fisheries ministry  decided to stop importing salt for consumption. Salt that will be imported is only that for industry.          Because production at home is only about 1.4 million while the need for consumption is 1.6 million tons, the remaining 200 thousand tons could be imported.          Under Fadel's leadership, the ministry of maritime and fisheries affairs was tough on its stand to boost salt production at home and opposed salt importation.          "It is okey to import salt if it is for industrial need and our production is still unable to meet the required standards. But import must be in a limited volume," Fadel said recently.          Fadel's successor, newly named Minister for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries  Sharif Cicip Sutardjo, will resume Fadel's program, particularly the salt-sufficiency program in the 10 provinces.          For this purpose, the maritime affairs and fisheries ministry has allocated funds totaling Rp90 billion to support the program.          Supporting the program is one of the ministry's efforts to increase the domestic salt making industry's ability to meet the domestic need for salt. ***5*** (T.A014/A/HAJM/21:40/H-YH) 03-11-2011 21:39: