Stefani Ribka, Jakarta – Soybean, coffee and sugar plantations suffered bad harvests in 2016 due to a prolonged wet season.
Soybean production dropped by 7.2 percent to 890,000 tons from 960,000 tons in 2015. Coffee fell slightly by 0.01 percent to 639,305 tons from 639,412 tons and sugar dipped by 10.84 percent to 2.22 million tons from 2.49 million tons, data from the Agriculture Ministry shows.
"The drop in soybean production was a result of La Nina [the prolonged wet season]. Meanwhile, farmers were also discouraged from planting more due to low prices," said Agriculture Minister Amran Sulaiman at a hearing with the House of Representatives on Thursday.
The slight drop in coffee production, meanwhile, was purely caused by the unfriendly climate.
Amran said the ministry planned to expand plantations and increase productivity by distributing subsidized fertilizers and seedlings to growers of the commodities.
The ministry aims to jack up production of soybeans, coffee and sugar to 1.2 million tons, 750,000 tons and 2.95 million tons, respectively, this year.
Other products like rice, shallots, chili, corn, oil palm, cacao, rubber, beef, eggs and chicken all recorded production increases in 2016, ministry data shows. (bbn)