MORE LAND NEEDED TO ACHIEVE FOOD PRODUCTION SURPLUS

by Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, Oct 8 (ANTARA) - Indonesia which aspires to enjoy a 10-million-ton of food production surplus in the near future needs to maximize the cultivation of its idle lands with food crops.          According to Agriculture Minister Suswono, Indonesia needs to  open new farm lands  in order to achieve its 10-million-ton food surplus target as ordered by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.          "Actually, it is easy for us to achieve the surplus target if it is only rice but if it includes other commodities such as sugar, soybean or maize, we will need more agricultural lands," the minister said on Friday.         Suswono's statement reaffirmed the government's previous commitment to continuously boost its annual rice and other crops production so that its food self-sufficiency target would be achieved in 2014.         "For soybean alone we will need 500 thousand hectares of new land while for sugar we will need at least 350 thousand hectares," he said.  Soybean production in 2011 is estimated to reach only 819,450 tons down 9.66 percent from last year's.          In term of rice, there has been an increasing trend in production. The Central Board of Statistics (BPS) has predicted that rice production this year is expected to increase.          "There will be an increase of 2.4 percent," the agency's chief, Rusman Heriyawan, said recently.       So, rice production is estimated to reach 68.06 million tons of dried unhulled rice this year up 1.59 tons from 2010. The figure is more or less equal to 35 million tons of husked rice.         Regarding sugar, the country's need for industry and consumption is estimated at five million tons while production of the country's 60 sugar factories is only about 2.7 million.  Indonesia's sugarcane plantations at present cover about 480,148 hectares.          Virtually, Indonesia still  has vast land that could be developed to achieve the country's food production goals.          Based on the results of a survey, the country now has around 7.3 million hectares of idle land,  the minister said. Nearly 2 million hectares of the land could be used as farm including sugarcane plantation, he said.          The agriculture minister has said earlier that the government had begun the development of new agricultural land in Indonesia in an effort to increase food crop production.         "For agriculture land, we have started to developed one in Bulungan district, in East Kalimantan," the minister said on Wednesday.          Apart from that the ministry of agriculture has also continued to support the development of new agricultural land outside Java, which cover Aceh, Riau and West Kalimantan.         The Farmers-Fishermen Joint Organization (KTNA) in a hearing with House Commission IV on agriculture last May predicted that the acreage of Indonesia's rice fields at present was estimated at 13.6 million hectares.         With an estimated number of population at 237 million, the average per capita rice field is about 500 meters. This only accounts for about 50 percent of the average per capita rice farm in Vietnam which reaches 1,000 meters.         While trying to expand the agricultural land, the government is also trying to diversify food crops so that other foods especially local foods would replace rice as a staple for the people.          "We are conducting studies whether local foods can replace rice as staple one. We hope these studies would have been completed this very year," Head of Food Resilience Affairs of the Ministry of Agriculture Achmad Suryana said recently.          Though there are many kinds of local foods that can become alternative staples, yet rice for many people is a must. This because rice has become a staple for all classes in Indonesia.           Achmad Suryana  hoped that the study on the possibility of changing rice with other local foods would be completed this very year and be reported to the office of the chief economic minister and the minister for people's welfare.      "We hope that, if approved, this program would have been launched next year," Achmad said.          In order to implement the plan,  the government will incorporate it with its 'raskin' program, a scheme where the government distributes cheap rice for poor families in the country.          The on-going government's rice for the poor (raskin) program may next year include allocation of local foods instead of merely rice. In line with its raskin program, the government is studying the utilization of non-rice food stuff, or local foods to be included in the raskin program.          It is expected to include cassava, maize, sago and tuber that have become the staples of the local people.          Thus the 'raskin' (rice for the poor) program will change into 'pangkin' (food for the poor) scheme. This program will include in the first stage the extension of food  packages to poor families which are composed of  10 kg rice and 5 kg local foods (such as cassava, sago, maize, corn, tuber or other local foods).          In the second year, the portion of rice in the 'pangkin' packages will be reduced to 5 kg while local foods will be increased to 10 kg. And in the second year, the pankin packages will 100 percent be composed of 15 kg local foods.          Local foods in Indonesia vary, including a number of starchy tubers and maize. Cassava and dried cassava, locally known as tiwul, is an alternate staple food in arid areas of Java such as Gunung Kidul and Wonogiri, while other roots and tubers are eaten especially in hard times.          Maize is eaten in drier regions such as Madura and the Lesser Sunda Islands. A sago congee called Papeda is a staple food especially in Maluku and Papua.***5*** (T.A014/A/HAJM/15:40/a014) 08-10-2011 15:41: