Indonesia ready to feed itself

Press, 19 December 1984, Page 20

Indonesia ready to feed itself

By

PETER MILLERSHIP,

of Reuter, in Jakarta

Indonesia will harvest the biggest rice crop in its history this year due to good weather and improved farming techniques. As a result, the world’s number one rice buyer will become an exporter. President Suharto made boosting rice production a cornerstone of his economic policies, radically altering rice-growing methods which had been unchanged for thousands of years. Twenty years ago economists forecast that Indonesia’s population explosion would cause a crisis in food supply in the world's fifth most populous nation, warning that rice .import bills would become crippling. President Suharto introduced his rice programme not long after succeeding the late President Sukarno in 1965. Economists and

bankers say its remarkable success means that now only very few of Indonesia’s 160 million mouths go hungry. They say it is vital that rice continues to support Jakarta’s annual 5 per cent growth target because agriculture makes up almost one quarter of gross domestic product and the nation faces uncertainty over its main export earner, crude oil. The Agriculture Minister, Achmad Affandi, said recently that Indonesia would produce a bumper crop of around 25.5 million tonnes of rice this year. Already its warehouses are full to record levels with more than three million tonnes of rice in reserve. President Suharto sees food as a top security priority and would like to see a rice stockpile of five million tonnes although Bulog, the

agency which balances supply and demand, says Indonesia only needs around two million tonnes. “We are now looking for export markets for our rice,” said Mr Sukriyatmaja, Bulog’s deputy chairman. A recent announcement said that Indonesia would sell 100,000 tonnes to the Philippines. A key factor in boosting output was “miracle” rice which is pest and disease resistant and has a high yield. It was not easy for scientists from the Manila-based International Rice Research Institute (1.R.R.1.) to convince farmers to plant it. The new rice was smaller than the old head-high varieties and farmers had to stoop to cut it. Farmers also complained it was not as tasty as the old variety and were reluctant to use it in spite of official encouragement in the form of credits. In the late 19705, when pests hit Indonesian rice fields, farmers had no option. “The brown plant-

hopper became an unusual ally for us and helped force Indonesia into self-sufficiency in rice,” said an 1.R.R.1. officer, Walter Tappen. 1.R.R.1., the United States, Japan, the World Bank, and the Netherlands — the former colonial power — helped boost rice output but Indonesia is now firmly at the helm of its rice programme. “Indonesia no longer needs foreign agencies, it’s now got its own capability,” Mr Tappen said. Western agricultural experts say that barring bad weather and pests, Indonesia easily could meet its output target of more than 28 million tonnes of rice by 1988. Technical advances mean that Java, which formerly had two crops a year, now grows rice all year round. This means that Indonesia, which has often bought two million tonnes or 20 per cent of the world rice market in one year, is now in a position to halt imports completely, they said. It will import

some 500,000 tonnes this year in old orders. Around half of Indonesia’s population is involved in rice-growing whereas in the United States, whose huge agricultural exports feed the world, only 4 per cent of the population is involved in the farm sector. ; President Suharto has changed the country’s rice-growing system by introducing credits and community leadership systems and replacing old varieties of rice with new. Alongside the rice expansion programme, the Government has tried to discourage Indonesians, who normally eat rice three times a day, from eating so much of the grain. President Suharto himself has refrained from eating rice for long periods as an example. He also told farmers when, they were plagued by mice and rats to eat them if necessary, rather than let them spoil the rice crop.