January 25, 2008

Indonesia to raise soy on 200,000 hectares

The Indonesian government said it had allocated 200,000 hectares for soy production across the country this year.

Agriculture ministry director, Sutarto Alimuso, said Friday that by cultivating soy on 200,000 hectares of land, the ministry hopes to up national soy output to the 1992 level.

In 1992, Indonesia produced a record of 1.8 million tonnes, acquiring an increase of 300 percent from 600,000 tonnes in 1998.

The government will encourage farmers to utilize idle land in more than 100 districts for soy production. Furthermore, farmers will also be provided with seeds and counseling every two weeks to boost their outputs.

On Monday, around 3,000 tofu and tempeh producers staged a rally outside the presidential palace, urging the government to stabilize soy prices which had skyrocketed by almost 100 percent in the past year.   

Trade Minister Mari Elka Pangestu said on the same day that the government would reduce duty to 10 percent for imported soy.

In the past seven months, Elka pointed that soy prices had almost doubled at US$600 a tonne due to dwindling production in the US, the top soy supplier of Indonesia.