President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) is sanguine about Indonesia soon achieving self-sufficiency in rice since the country had stopped importing rice in the last three years.
“I am sure that we will achieve self-sufficiency in rice because we have not imported rice for the past three years,” the president noted in his statement after visiting the Rice Research Center in Subang, West Java, on Tuesday.
Indonesia earlier imported 1.5 to two million tons of rice, but in the last three years, the country had managed to boost its rice production.
Based on the information provided by the Agriculture Ministry, national rice production had reached 31.31 million tons in 2019, increased to 31.36 million tons in 2020, and was recorded at 31.33 million tons in 2021.
The head of state said he visited the Indonesian Center for Rice Research to ensure food availability, especially of rice, since the research center was preparing the seeds for producing superior varieties of rice.
Jokowi also reminded that Indonesians must be vigilant, including by ensuring food availability in sufficient quantities amid food shortages in several countries.
He said that the Rice Research Center in Subang had continued to prepare superior varieties of rice seeds and also aimed to find new varieties of rice seeds.
According to the president, superior variety of rice seeds played an important role in boosting national rice production that must be maximized in every hectare.
Jokowi stated that if rice seeds were planted properly, then inbred rice seeds (Inpari) 32 and 42 could produce approximately up to 12 tons of rice per hectare.
“Let us say, with an average production of only seven to eight tons, it is already a good deal for our food supplies, especially rice,” he stated.
On the occasion, the president reminded the community to not only depend on rice food crops but also to develop other food crops, such as sago, sorghum, porang (Amorphophallus muelleri Blume), corn, and cassava, which still have the opportunity to increase their production.—Antara News
