Ridwan Max Sijabat, Trimurjo, Central Lampung – Vice President Jusuf Kalla says Indonesia must embrace hybrid rice to improve rice production and strengthen national food reserves.
"The government's decision to introduce hybrid rice varieties through the private sector hopes to improve the economic livelihood of farmers and the country's rice production so that Indonesia will no longer rely on imported rice to supply national food stocks," he said Wednesday in a dialogue with farmers.
Kalla was inaugurating a 30-hectare integrated hybrid rice research center belonging to PT Sumber Alam Sutra (SAS). The firm is one of 18 private companies developing Chinese-developed hybrid rice varieties in the country.
The Vice President said with shrinking farmland, Indonesia had to promote the use of hybrid rice, intensify farming technology and multiply harvests to allow the country to double rice production levels from 5 to 10 million tons a year within the next two years.
Kalla also defended rice imports, which he said ensured national stocks and stabilized the local market price of rice.
"We import some two million tons of rice annually from Vietnam and Thailand to cover the annual deficit because the domestic production of five million tons is not enough to meet national needs," he said.
Kalla added that stocks of rice, palm oil and sugar – the three basic commodities – were maintained to avoid political instability.
He said that while the seeds were being imported, the use of hybrid rice varieties stood to benefit farmers and the country by alleviating rice imports.
"It is better for us to import seeds than rice, to save our foreign exchange," he said, adding that Vietnam and Thailand export rice to Indonesia using seeds imported from China.
Agriculture Minister Anton Apriantono, accompanying Kalla at the dialogue, said that with the new rice program, Indonesia aimed to produce seven million tons of rice in 2009 and reach rice self-sufficiency by 2013.
"Under an MOU signed in 2005, China also agreed to transfer farming technology including the breeding of new hybrid varieties to eliminate Indonesia's dependence on seed imports," he said.
PT SAS has a partnership program with farmers using a soft-loan scheme from private and state banks.
PT SAS president director Babay Chalimi said Tuesday his company would provide seed, fertilizer and technical guidance and farmers would provide the land.
He said under the program farmers were entitled to eight tons of rice a hectare each harvest, while the remainder would be split evenly between the farmers and the company.
On Monday, farming NGO Biotani Indonesia Foundation urged the government to postpone the hybrid rice program, saying it would burden farmers. Biotani executive director Riza Tjahjadi warned Indonesia could experience a "suicide phenomenon" among farmers, as occurred in India, should the government go ahead with the plan.
India opened its seed sector to global agribusiness firms in 1998. As a result, traditional farm seeds were replaced with genetically engineered seeds requiring repurchase each growing season, which led to poverty and severe debt among farmers.