Agriculture Minister: Rice Production in Dry Season Not Down

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Agriculture Minister Amran Sulaiman said rice production in the dry season did not tumble. 

He said the old paradigm that rice production was bound to drop in the dry season should be changed. 

“Now there is a new paradigm, new technology, we are planting more in the dry season, from the usual 500,000 hectares to 1 million hectares, a two-fold increase during the dry season,” he said in Kramat Jati Market, Friday, September 14.

Amran said one way to step up rice production during the dry season was by making 30,000 retention basins in tandem with the Villages, Disadvantaged Regions and Transmigration Ministry, and constructing tertiary irrigation systems of approximately 3.4 million hectares throughout Indonesia. 

Read: Bulog: Rice in 200 Gr Sachets to Go on Sale in September 

Amran explained his ministry would also construct deep and shallow wells to boost rice production. "We send hundreds of thousands of pump equipment across the nation so we can plant during the dry season," he said.

Amran also called on sellers to refrain from increasing their prices at markets, allowing for the country's ample rice stocks.

"Once again, I ask all rice businessmen not to increase your prices. You should make profits, but our target is bringing prosperity to our farmers. Businessmen are happy, consumers are also content," he said.

KARTIKA ANGGRAENI