GOVT VOWS TO ACHIEVE FOOD SELF-SUFFICIENCY

By Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, Nov 8 (Antara) - The new Indonesian government under Joko Widodo, who was sworn in as Indonesia's seventh president last month, has vowed to meet it targets for food self-sufficiency by improving the infrastructure of the food sector.          "Within three years we must be self-sufficient in food and stop imports," Jokowi, as the president is popularly called, said after participating in a rice harvest in Barang Palier in the district of Pinrang, South Sulawesi, on Wednesday.          The President tried his hand at harvesting rice on some 2,500 hectares of rice fields during his visit to the village.          He earlier visited Sidrap District in the same province to officiate at the opening of an irrigation network in Mojong Bendoro village.  The network is capable of irrigating 12,000 hectares of rice fields.          "The President inaugurated the project with a groundbreaking ceremony on Wednesday. The irrigation project has a width of six meters and a length of 2.2 km," Hnizon, a local irrigation official, said.            He added that President Jokowi visited the district for the first time as president and said local residents are happy with the president's visit to Sidrap District, South Sulawesi,  to inaugurate the vital irrigation project.          Abd Rahman, one of the residents, said that local farmers are only able to have two planting and harvest seasons per year. With the assistance of the irrigation project, residents hope to increase plantings to three times per year.          "We hope the project will be able to irrigate all rice fields so that the agricultural production will be better," he said.          President Jokowi said South Sulawesi would be made into a national rice producing region for the country's eastern region.  Improved irrigation networks would become a priority as they help in increasing production, although the region has already enjoyed a rice surplus.          "We know that South Sulawesi produces a surplus of rice, but with the improvement in irrigation, production is expected to increase 35 percent. This is what we are going to achieve. In some locations, the irrigation networks have not yet been rehabilitated," he said.          Irrigation is one of the crucial infrastructural facilities in the food sector that must be improved to achieve food self-sufficiency targets.          According to Chief Economic Minister Sofyan Djalil, the government will increase the country's irrigation networks to cover one million hectares of rice fields and will become a development priority.          "This is urgent and requires immediate improvements," he stated after attending the Indonesia Infrastructure Week on Wednesday.          The minister added that the budget to be earmarked for the program was still being deliberated. However, the government will most likely allocate some Rp11 trillion for irrigation so it can help boost food production in the country.          "Funding from the central and regional governments will total Rp11 trillion," he affirmed, adding that the funds will be allocated in the revised budget for 2015.          Moreover, the program will be coordinated among the central, provincial and district governments.          With improved irrigation systems, rice production is expected to increase and the target to achieve self-sufficiency would also be reached.          The chief economic minister expressed the government¿s hopes that food production would double in 2015 to five to six million tons with the assistance of this program.         "The state budget will mostly finance infrastructure (development projects) that are linked to the national economy, including dams and village access roads," he said.          The previous government, under Susilo Bambang Yuhoyono, set a production target of 70.24 million tons of unhusked rice for this year. It will also try to reach its rice surplus target of 4.4 million tons.          The Ministry of Agriculture is convinced that if efforts are taken to safeguard rice fields from the threat of the El Niño-related drought and to maintain production, a surplus target of 4.2 million tons can be achieved.          Moreover, Director General for Food and Crops of the Ministry of Agriculture Haryono recently pointed out that based on the Forecast I (ARAM I) figures of the Central Board of Statistics (BPS), the country's unhusked rice production is estimated to reach 69.87 million tons this year.          But based on the ARAM II 2014, Indonesia's dry unhusked rice production is projected at 70,607,231 tons, which is 672,478 tons lower than the forecast for the same period in 2013, which stood at 71,279,709 tons.          According to the  BPS, Forecast II 2014 (ARAM II), rice production in Indonesia has declined by 0.94 percent compared to that the same period last year due to drought.         "The decline in rice production has been attributed to scarce rainfall and the decrease in rice field acreage in Java," BPS Chief Suryamin stated on Monday.          The productivity of rice plantations also dropped by 0.24 quintals per hectare from 51.52 quintals per hectare in 2013 to 51.28 quintals per hectare in 2014, he noted.***2***  (T.A014/A/BESSR/F. Assegaf) 08-11-2014 11:34: