Jakarta, Indonesia
April 3, 2007
The world's largest Muslim nation,
Indonesia has been struggling for several years to increase its
rice production
Efforts by Indonesia to avoid
food shortages by increasing its rice production have received
an important boost with the signing of a new agreement to help
the nation's millions of poor rice farmers with new
technologies.
Senior officials and scientists
of the Indonesian
Agency for Agricultural Research and Development (IAARD),
and other agencies of the Indonesian Ministry of Agriculture,
signed the three-year agreement with the Philippines-based
International Rice Research
Institute (IRRI) on March 23 in Jakarta.
The world's largest Muslim
nation, Indonesia has been struggling for several years to
increase its rice production. Shortages could trigger price
rises, possibly sparking protests and unrest.
"It will be very challenging to
lift Indonesian rice production to the levels requested by the
government," IRRI's deputy director general for research, Ren
Wang, said in Jakarta. The Indonesian government has indicated
it wants to see an additional 2 million tons of rice produced in
2007 and 5 percent growth in national rice production each year
after that.
"With world rice production
growing at less than 2 percent annually, it's increasingly
difficult for countries such as Indonesia to boost production
beyond 2 to 3 percent," Dr. Wang explained.
But with international rice
prices at a ten-year high – after doubling in the past two years
– and world rice reserves slumping to a 30-year low, there is
enormous pressure on rice-importing countries such as Indonesia
to try to achieve self-sufficiency. Dr. Wang said that such
gains had been achieved before, noting that Indonesia achieved
self-sufficiency in rice in 1984.
Between 1955 and 1965,
Indonesia had the lowest rate of growth in rice yields (0.2
percent per year) and rice production (1.2 percent) of any major
rice producer in Asia. However, between 1965 and 1985, it had
the highest rates of growth (4.1 percent and 5.6 percent,
respectively), with a dramatic spurt of 7.2 percent annual
growth of output between 1977 and 1984.[1]
Rice production in Indonesia
grew by nearly two and a half times between 1968 and 1989, from
less than 12 to over 29 million metric tons. Most of this
expansion occurred during the second of these two decades, when
average rice yields increased from 2.8 to 4.2 tons per hectare.
The area planted to rice
expanded by only about 1 million hectares during each decade, so
most of the output gain was attributed to intensive increases in
productivity rather than to extensive expansion of rice land.
"These gains show very clearly what can be achieved with the
right rice policies in place to encourage the growth of rice
output," Dr. Wang said.
"Because of the importance of
Indonesia as the world's fifth largest nation and its vital
strategic role in Asia, it's crucial that its rice sector
continue to develop and move ahead," he emphasized. "We all need
to work together to channel the latest technologies to
Indonesian rice farmers to help them reach the goals set by the
government – if we fail, the price could be very high indeed."
The new agreement between
Indonesia and IRRI focuses on three key areas: support for the
Indonesian government's Rice Production Increase Program,
collaborative research, and human resource development.
Support efforts will include
the development of improved rice varieties with high yield
potential, grain quality, and resistance to pests; the
development of a national strategy and framework for hybrid
rice; and the development of improved rice varieties that can
tolerate submergence, drought, and low-temperature damage in
high-elevation areas.
Collaborative research will
include the strengthening of research capacity for the
development and safe use of transgenic rice in Indonesia,
improving grain quality and the nutritional value of rice using
functional genomics and molecular breeding, and special emphasis
on drought, disease resistance, and poor soils.
Capacity building will focus on
postgraduate degree training, on-the-job or intern training,
scientist exchange, short courses, and in-country training.
Other news from the
Indonesian Agency
for Agricultural Research and Development (Badan
Penelitian dan Pengembangan Pertanian) |
