INDONESIA BOOSTING ITS FOOD CROP DEVELOPMENT

By Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, March 8 (Antara) - Indonesia is giving a priority to agriculture development, particularly the food crop sector, in efforts to improve the welfare of farmers, meet domestic needs, remove dependence on imports, and compete in ASEAN Economic Community.          To achieve the goals, the government this year has set a fund of Rp22 trillion in its state budget to finance its agriculture development such as improving the irrigation system and providing farmers with agricultural tools.          Farmers will be assisted with various production facilities such as hand tractors and harvesting machines to increase the productivity their rice fields from the current approximate 5 tons per hectare to hopefully about 9 to 10 tons.          The government will also re-frame the cycles of country's crop planting and harvest seasons to avoid simultaneous and overlapping harvest times. Thus, food crop prices for farmers could consistently be maintained at favorable levels.