Harvested rice fields are expected to cover 10.79 million hectares in 2020, up 108.93 thousand hectares, or 1.02 percent, compared to 10.68 million hectares in the previous year, BPS chief Suhariyanto said at an online press conference here on Thursday.
He forecast the production of dry unhusked rice (GKG) would increase by 1.02 percent, or 556.51 thousand tons, to reach 55.16 million tons in 2020 from 54.60 million tons a year ago.
Since 2018, BPS has been working with the Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT), the Agrarian and Spatial Layout Ministry/National Land Agency (BPN), the Information and Geospatial Agency (BIG), and the National Institute of Aeronautics and Space (LAPAN) to improve the method of calculating the area under harvested rice fields using an area sample frame (KSA) method.
The KSA has been utilizing satellite imaging technology provided by LAPAN and used by BIG to delineate the map of rice fields, which is then validated and stipulated by the Agrarian and Spatial Layout Ministry/National Land Agency (BPN), to estimate the area covered by harvested rice fields.
Based on the result of the KSA survey, there has been a shift in the peak of rice harvest in 2020 compared to 2019. The rice harvest in 2020 peaked in April, while the rice harvest in 2019 peaked in March.
The realization of harvested rice fields in the January-September period this year reached 9.01 million hectares, down 2.97 percent, or 275.35 thousand hectares, compared to 9.28 million hectares a year earlier.
The area under harvested rice fields in the remaining three months of 2020 is projected to reach 1.78 million hectares, which would bring the total area under harvested rice fields to 10.79 million hectares.
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Translator: Sella Panduarsa G/Suharto
Editor: Sri Haryati
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