Jakarta – About 70 percent of Indonesia's land consists of infertile soil, says soil expert Nurhajati Hakim.

"Whole islands in Indonesia are dominated by ultisol or a reddish-yellow soil and peat land with a relatively a high level of acidity, which is unsuitable for plants to grow," Nurhajati said in Padang, West Sumatra, as quoted by Antara news agency.

Nurhajati said that even though there were volcanoes in Sumatra with fertile soil, overall the land was dominated by ultisol soil and peat land.

In Sumatra, for example, ultisol soil was found along the Bukit Barisan volcano range, while peat land was located in the western and eastern coastal areas of the island, she said.

Peat land dominated Kalimantan and Papua, which had small areas of ultisol soil, she said. The same conditions were also found in Sulawesi, which was dominated by peat land with the remaining parts consisting of ultisol.

Java, Bali and Nusa Tenggara, however, were home to active volcanoes with a majority of andosol soil, she said without giving further details.

"Infertile land does not mean that it cannot be planted on. If technology is applied, the soil can provide abundant agricultural production," Nurhajati said.

Therefore, she said, Indonesia could still enjoy a high level of production of various commodities, even if its land was mostly infertile. (hhr)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/05/17/indonesia-dominated-infertile-land-says-expert.html