Indonesia won't import rice this year: minister
Play
To depend on local farmers
Indonesia will not import rice in 2013 as local farmers can produce sufficient rice to meet the domestic demand, State Owned Enterprises Minister Dahlan Iskan has said.
He said that as of December 2012, the existing rice stock inventory in state logistics agency PT Bulog’s storehouses across the country reached around 2.5 million tonnes. Bulog should procure 3.5 million tonnes of rice during harvest periods this year.
“If Bulog can procure 3.5 million tonnes of rice during harvest periods this year we will not need to import more rice, as we did last year,” said Dahlan, as quoted by Antara news agency. He spoke on the sidelines of a rice harvest event in Jati village, Jaten district, Karanganyar regency, on Sunday.
He said that from last year’s rice imports, Bulog reaped Rp 800 billion (US$82.1 million) worth of profit. However, the profit was returned to the farmers so that the price of rice did not decline.
“To procure such a large amount of rice, from now on Bulog should use its full capacity to achieve the target. And if Bulog is willing to work hard, I’m optimistic that this can be achieved,” Dahlan said, adding that in 2012, Bulog also procured 2.6 million tonnes from local farmers.
The minister said that state-run agribusiness firm PT Pertani planned to buy 100 units of rice dryer machines to distribute in several regions across the country. The machines would help farmers to dry their unhulled rice properly.
Dahlan said that obtaining fertiliser was no longer a problem for farmers and there was no more accumulation of fertiliser by traders.
“I haven’t heard any more about traders accumulating fertiliser, which means that fertiliser distribution has been continuing under a mechanism requested by the farmers,” said Dahlan.
