JAKARTA. State Owned Enterprises Minister Dahlan Iskan said Sunday that Indonesia would not import rice in 2013 as local farmers could produce sufficient rice to meet the domestic demand.

He said that as of December 2012, the existing rice stock inventory in state logistics agency PT Bulog’s storehouses across the country reached around 2.5 million tons. Bulog should procure 3.5 million tons of rice during harvest periods this year.

“If Bulog can procure 3.5 million tons of rice during harvest periods this year we will not need to import more rice, as we did last year,” said Dahlan, as quoted by Antara news agency. He spoke on the sidelines of a rice harvest event in Jati village, Jaten district, Karanganyar regency, on Sunday.

He said that from last year’s rice imports, Bulog reaped Rp 800 billion (US$82.1 million) worth of profit. However, the profit was returned to the farmers so that the price of rice did not decline.

“To procure such a large amount of rice, from now on Bulog should use its full capacity to achieve the target. And if Bulog is willing to work hard, I’m optimistic that this can be achieved,” Dahlan said, adding that in 2012, Bulog procured 2.6 million tons of rice from local farmers.

The Minister said that state run agribusiness firm PT Pertani planned to buy 100 units of rice dryer machines to distribute in several regions across the country. The machines would help farmers to dry their unhulled rice properly.

Dahlan said that obtaining fertilizer was no longer a problem for farmers and there was no more accumulation of fertilizer by traders.

“I haven’t heard any more about traders accumulating fertilizer, which means that fertilizer distribution has been continuing under a mechanism requested by the farmers,” said Dahlan.

(The Jakarta Post)

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