Jakarta, July 16 (Antara) - The government will secure its 4.4 million
hectare rice fields from drought and retain its production target of
70.24 million tons of unhusked rice and a surplus of 4.4 million tons of
rice this year.
The Ministry of Agriculture is convinced that if efforts are taken to
safeguard rice fields from the threat of El Niño-related drought and
production is maintained, a surplus of 4.2 million tons will be
achieved.
Acting Director General of Food Crops of the Ministry of Agriculture
Haryono said on Wednesday that based on the Forecast I figure of the
Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS), the country's unhulled rice
production this year is estimated at 69.87 million tons.
"The efforts to secure rice plantations will be made through pest
organism control (OPT) system, fertilizer supplies, reduction of
deprecation in harvest production or losses, and the provision of
agricultural equipment," he pointed out.
Stocks of pesticides are now more than adequate to carry out OPT pest
control. Likewise, agricultural equipment is also sufficient, such as
the procurement of water pumps used in anticipation of the impact of the
El Niño weather phenomenon.
The directorate general of food crops has also planned to take
satellite images of the existing rice plantations or the standing crops
in East Java, Central Java, West Java, and Banten.
"With the images, the real conditions of rice plantations from the
provincial level to the district level could be mapped out so that
appropriate safeguarding steps could be taken," Haryono said.
Images of rice crops in areas outside Java, such as South Sulawesi and
South Sumatra, and other rice-producing center provinces will be also be
taken.
Regarding efforts to achieve production targets, the agriculture
ministry will supervise the planting of the "genjah" rice variety, which
is more tolerant against drought such as the Inpari 1 (intensive paddy
field irrigation I), Inpari 2, Inpari 10, Inpari 19, and Inpari 20, in
areas that lack irrigation water or are prone to dryness during drought.
New rice fields will be established with new primary rice varieties and
high productivity will also be achieved, particularly in South
Kalimantan and South Sumatra provinces.
With these efforts, the Ministry of Agriculture has predicted that the
country's rice production this year will record a surplus of about 4.2
million tons.
Based on the BPS forecast I figure, the country's unhusked rice
production is estimated at 69.87 tons, while the population is estimated
at 252,164,800.
"If the per capita rice consumption is about 139.15 kilogram per annum,
then on the national scale, the country's rice production this year
will still be in surplus of about 4.2 million tons," Haryono said.
He said that surplus rice production will occur in February, March,
April, July, August, and September, while deficit production will occur
in January, June, October, November, and December.
The accumulative amount of rice production this year will still be surplus.
Yet, the director general explained that the estimated 69.871 tons of
unhusked rice production was lower than that of the BPS' figure in 2013,
which was 71.280 million tons.
"The forecast I figure this year is 1.9 percent or 1.409 million tons
lower than that of last year," Food Crops Director General Hayono said.
According to the director general, the decline is due to the
depreciation in the acreage of harvested rice fields, delay in the
plantation season, lack of workers, land conversion, damage to
irrigation networks, wet drought anomaly, and floods in a number
rice-producing regions such as West Java, Central Java, and Banten.
"In addition, pest attacks, fertilizer shortage, and constraints in the
distribution of seeds are also reasons," the director general said.
Apart from the surplus rice prediction, the government has indicated to
import rice this year after the BPS reported that its unhusked rice
production will fall by about 1.41 million tons.
"I have asked Bulog to anticipate the issue. I have talked about the
quantity, price, and period," Trade Minister Muhammad Lutfi said after a
press conference at the Trade Ministry.
Lutfi did not elaborate on the quantity, price, and period of import in
order to stabilize rice price and prevent speculators from capitalizing
on the rice market.
The BPS has estimated dry unhusked rice production in 2014 at 69.87
million tons, down 1.98 percent or 1.41 million tons compared to the
year before. The shortfall will occur due to declining area of harvested
rice field by 265.31 thousand hectares or 1.92 percent and the
declining productivity of every hectare of paddy field by 0.03 quintal
or 0.06 percent.
Last year, dry unhusked rice production rose 2.22 million tons or 3.22 percent from a year earlier.
Agribusiness observer from the University of Nusa Cendana Kupang Leta
Rafael Levis hailed the government's plan to import 500,000 tons of rice
to forestall the impact of El Niño.
The decision to import rice is right and will ward off the impact of
long drought brought about by the weather phenomenon, Leta said early
this month (July 3, 2014).
He said shortage might occur in domestic supply of rice, soybean,
tuber, and other food products as a result of long drought.
The weather phenomenon is feared to hit the eastern regions of the
country in August. Experts, however, dismissed fear that the impact will
be serious.
Supari, a climatologist from the Meteorology and Geophysics (BMKG)
office, said there was no cause for much concern. The kind of El Niño
that will hit Papua, Maluku, West Nusa Tenggara, and East Nusa Tenggara
will not cause much damage.
He said the chances of forest fires triggered by El Niño this year were
slim, as the El Niño will be weak and there is enough rainfall.
So far, the government has imported rice only to prepare for the impact
of drought or extreme weather, which could affect production.
Hatta Rajasa, who was a chief economic minister and is now running as a
vice presidential candidate, said in a recent presidential debate that
rice was imported to anticipate extreme weather.
"We import rice to anticipate extreme climate's disturbance," Hatta
said during a last round of presidential and vice presidential debate on
Saturday night (July 6, 2014).***3***
(T.A014/INE/B003)
EDITED BY INE
(T.SYS/A/BESSR/Bustanuddin) 16-07-2014 22:29: |
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar