State enterprises minister Dahlan Iskan said he hoped the target could be achieved through the Corporate-based Food Production Improvement program (GP3K) currently being carried out.
Sukabumi, West Java (ANTARA News) - Indonesia hopes it will no longer import rice from abroad such as Thailand and Vietnam from 2013.

State Enterprises Minister Dahlan Iskan said here on Thursday he hoped the target could be achieved through the Corporate-based Food Production Improvement program (GP3K) currently being carried out.

"This month we have not imported rice yet although the permit for it has been issued because stock is still sufficient and so we have decided not to import rice yet. It is expected Indonesia will no longer import rice from 2013," he said to newsmen here on Thursday.

Until in the middle of November this year the National Logistics Agency (Bulog) had been able to collect up to 3.5 million tons of rice from farmers of the target set at 3.8 million tons, he said.

The GP3K program which has been carried out for the past three years has proven able to boost rice production, he added.

He said in the past 20 years rice production in Indonesia has never met the target and only this year it is expected rice production collected by Bulog would meet or even surpass the target, he said.

"The production hike is not the success of the government in improving the quality and quantity of rice production but the result of perseverance of the farmers, counselors, and farmer groups," he said.

The minister said to achieve the target he had given a heavy assignment to state-owned fertilizer company PT Pupuk Kujang of not only providing fertilizers but also guidance to farmers to help make the GP3K program successful.

He said farming system and management still have yet to be improved.

"Before the GP3K program is carried out PT Pupuk Kujang is only assigned to deal with 28,000 hectares of land but now it has to deal with 140,000 hectares. We hope the assignment could be carried out well to boost production to realize self-sufficiency and food resilience," he said.

The President Director of PT Pupuk Kujang, Bambang Tjahyono, meanwhile said the company was ready to carry out the task.

"Through the GP3K program we believe Indonesia would be able to become the biggest rice producer minimally in Southeast Asia," he said.(*)

Editor: Heru Purwanto
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