April 9, 2009

Indonesia has succeeded in achieving self-sufficiency in corn as domestic production meets 90 percent of local demand, the Agriculture Ministry announced Wednesday (Apr 8).

Indonesia may be self-sufficient in corn and have begun exporting the product, but it does not mean that imports have stopped, said the ministry's director-general of food crops Sutarto Alimoeso.

Last year, Indonesia imported 170,000 tonnes of corn and exported 150,000 tonnes. Alimoeso said this year's export target is one million tonnes, out of the production target of 18 million tonnes.

The ministry expects domestic corn production to increase 14 percent this year, after last year's 22-percent growth from 16.3 million tonnes in 2007. Alimoeso said corn acreage and productivity had increased following the use of quality seeds.

The government was subsidising seed prices for corn and soy farmers, while also trying to secure quality seeds for farmers.

This year, the ministry had allocated a corn seed subsidy for producing 4,266 tonnes of corn on an area of 225,534 hectares.

Seed assistance taken from national seed supply for farmers will reach 5,595 tonnes for an area of 353,000 hectares. Direct top seed assistance will reach 7,610 tonnes for an area of 507,333 hectares.