February 18, 2008

Indonesia to set aside 400,000 hectares for soy cultivation

Indonesia's Agriculture Ministry is ready to implement a plan to set up a 400,000-hectare soy estate that will increase national production, a spokesman said.

The ministry's secretary general, Hasanuddin Ibrahim, said private and state-owned companies working in partnership with local farmers will be involved in the estate's development.

State-owned companies such as Bulog, BRI and PT Pertani are partaking in the project.

"Bulog is expected to serve as an off-taker, seeds will be provided by PT Pertani, and BRI will extend loans," he said.

Local seeds would be used for the project, whose location has yet to be determined.

Agriculture Minister Anton Apriyantono earlier said the government had allocated Rp1 trillion (US$108 million) to accelerate food self-sufficiency programmes, with 60 percent of that sum going towards boosting soy production.

In the period 2000-2005, Indonesia imported an average of 1.1 million  tonnes of soy a year worth US$358 million.

The country enjoyed soy self-sufficiency in 1992, but production had continued to decline since 1993 as farmers had become reluctant to plant soy as cheaper imports flooded the market.

Indonesia has nearly 18 million hectares of paddy land that can be converted into soy plantations, with two-thirds of that readily available if utilised.