Jakarta, April 7 (Antara) - Indonesia has an extensive area of 33.39 million hectares of swamplands, with potential for cultivation to ensure the country's food security and sovereignty.
Agriculture Minister Amran Sulaiman said that based on a pilot project in Ogan Ilir of South Sumatra Province, the productivity of swamplands could reach 6 to 7 tons per hectare. The pilot project could yield 2 to 3 tons per hectare at the beginning, but after three planting seasons, it could produce 6 to 7 tons per hectare.
Hence, the government is optimistic that one million hectares of swamplands could yield a commercial benefit of about Rp60 trillion, on the basis of the three-time cropping index a year.
According to Lowland Data Center, http://www.pusdatarawa.or.id, the swamp areas in Indonesia are spread over several islands, namely Sumatra, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, and Papua. Indonesia's swampland areas comprise 20.09 million hectares (60.2 percent of tidal land and 13.3 million hectares or 39.8 percent of non-tidal swamp land (lebak).
Of the total swamp areas, about 1.8 million is developed by the government and 2.4 million hectares by the locals. Hence, the government is now optimizing the swamplands to support the national food sovereignty development.
Sulaiman has proclaimed the optimization of 67 thousand hectares of swamplands in Barito Kuala district, South Kalimantan, to support national food security.
The minister stated in Banjarmasin on Thursday that the Ministry of Agriculture has announced the optimization of one million hectares of swamplands and tidelands in nine provinces. The nine provinces include Riau, North Kalimantan, South Sumatra, South Kalimantan, Jambi, Papua, and Central Kalimantan.
Especially in South Kalimantan, land optimization covers an area of 67 thousand hectares and is done with the help of the central government. In order to realize these efforts, the Ministry of Agriculture has handed over 40 units of excavators, with each weighing 20 tons. Each machine is worth Rp2 billion.
In addition to fertilizers and seeds, the Ministry of Agriculture will also distribute pumping machines of 200 hectare capacity. Other needs will be borne by the regional governments of South Kalimantan Province and Barito Kuala District.
The cost of optimizing swamplands is around Rp3 million per hectare, and for tidelands, it is Rp4 million per hectare.
Prior to the optimization system of swamplands and tidelands, the ministry noted that rice farms cultivated on idle lands took a cost of about Rp16 million per hectare.
After all, Indonesia's rice production cost is the highest in Asia, the Indonesian Association of Farmers and Fishermen (KTNA) had earlier stated.
KTNA chairman Winarno Tohir stated recently that based on data from the International Rice Research Institute, Indonesia's rice production cost in 2016-2017 was more expensive than the cost paid by farmers in Thailand, Vietnam, India, and China.
"Rice production cost in Indonesia is 2.5 times higher than in Vietnam," Winarno remarked on the sidelines of a seminar on "boosting paddy productivity" in PT Pupuk Kujang, Cikampek, and Karawang.
Paddy production cost in Indonesia is Rp4,079 per kilogram, much higher than only Rp1,619 per kilogram in Vietnam; Rp2,291 in Thailand; Rp2,306 in India; and Rp3,661 in China. Winarno revealed that the government needs to seriously address the problem over the high production cost.
"If Indonesia cannot cut the production cost, the domestic market could be flooded with imported rice," he explained. Vietnamese rice once flooded the domestic market legally and illegally, as Vietnamese rice was much cheaper, he added.
Indonesian farmers need to be taught modern farming techniques, which are effective and efficient, he elaborated. Based on a research by KTNA, the factors causing the high production cost of rice farming in Indonesia were related to the use of pesticides and the irrigation system practiced.
However, the cultivation of swamplands into rice farms could reduce production cost, and land productivity could be increased to ensure national food sovereignty.
Sulaiman estimated that swampland optimization will generate Rp60 trillion; by calculation, the cropping index reaches three times a year on one million hectares of land.
The minister is optimistic that the productivity will reach 6-7 tons per hectare by referring to a pilot project in Ogan Ilir, South Sumatra, where the initial productivity was 2-3 tons per hectare, followed by seven tons per hectare during the third growing season.
On the other hand, the optimization of swampland is also aimed at maintaining food sovereignty to up to 100 years into the future.
The cultivation of swamplands is an alternative to the decreasing land due to the development of residential and industrial areas. Spacious agricultural lands have been converted for residential and industrial uses, particularly in Java region.
"Around 200 thousand hectares of farmlands have been converted for residential and industrial purposes," Agrarian and Land Spatial Planning Minister, Sofyan Djalil, pointed out in Jakarta on Tuesday (April 3).***3*** (A014/INE)EDITED BY INE/B003
(T.A014/A/BESSR/Bustanuddin) 07-04-2018 21:40:5 |
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