July 28, 2010

Indonesia sets to attain rice, corn sufficiency in 2014

The Indonesian government has set itself the target of achieving self sufficiency in rice and corn production in 2014, a minister said.

To that end, the government had targeted the annual increase in rice and corn production at 3.22% and 10.02% respectively, Agriculture Minister Suswono said Monday (Jul 26).

"This means that by 2014 rice production will reach 75.7 million tonnes and corn 17.66 million tonnes," he said.

In 2010 alone, rice production had been projected to reach 66.88 million tonnes and corn 19.8 million tonnes, Suswono said.

Rice and corn are strategic commodities and are among the five main focuses of the country's agricultural development.

"Self-sufficiency in food production as a manifestation of food resilience is of great importance to meet the people's basic necessities, and ensure national economic and political stability," he said.

Sustained self-sufficiency in food production would also enable the country to reduce its dependence on imported food staples and eventually play a greater role in fulfilling global demand for food, he added.