million tons this year, an agriculture ministry official said here on
Monday.
The ministry`s director general of food crops, Sutarto Alimoeso, said
the surplus would consist of an excess of dried unhulled rice production
of up to 3.5 million tons.
"There has been an extension of rice fields following the opening of new
fields and improvements in irrigation networks," he said after a senior
officials` meeting at the ministry.
He said rehabilitation of irrigation networks also included networks of
farm businesses.
He said the fields that had been affected by floods and droughts had
also dropped while plant diseases had also affected fewer fields.
Sutarto said since 2007 Indonesia had been enjoying quite large rice
production surpluses averaging one million tons per year.
In 2008 the surplus reached 2.3 million tons and this year it is
predicted to reach 3.51 million tons, he said.
Based on third forecast figures (ARAM III) from the Central Bureau of
Statistics the country`s dried unhulled rice production this year could
reach 63.84 million tons up by 5.83 percent of 3.51 million tons from
last year.
The rise in production is predicted to happen because of an increase of
4.18 percent or 515,310 hectares of rice fields and in productivity of
1.57 percent or 0.77 quintal per hectare.(*)
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