TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Potential decreases in rice production were already detected early last year. Verification in the field strengthened this suspicion. The ministry of agriculture, however, remains stoical.
Hermanu Triwidodo has taken a rather duplicitous stance lately. He is happy because his predictions about rice production were right on the mark. However, this lecturer at the Department of Plant Protection at the Bogor Institute of Agriculture (IPB) is also saddened because rice scarcity has caused the price of this primary commodity to increase. Since last year, we sent out warnings that national rice production would decrease, said Hermanu on Thursday last week.
Evidence of Hermanus prediction was first seen in early December 2017. According to data from the Cipinang Central Rice Market released on the foodstation.co.id website, the wholesale price of rice began to rise in mid-December. At that time, the price was still Rp12,700 per kilogram. On Friday last week, it reached Rp13,825 per kilogram. The price of IR-64 rice (alias Ramos Class I) rose from Rp11,100 to Rp12,650 per kilogram. These are the two most popular types of rice in Indonesia.
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Billy Haryanto, a major rice vendor in Cipinang, Jakarta, said that vendors have had difficulty finding a steady supply since early December. The supplies which usually come from West Java, CentralJava, and East Java began to decline. "Mills are not receiving rice," he said. "So we are only selling to our regular customers. We're afraid stocks will run out."
In January of last year Hermanu, who is also General Chair of the Nusantara Famer's Movement, sent a letter to Agriculture Minister Amran Sulaiman. In that letter, Hermanu said that attacks of the brown planthopper (WBC) pest were alarming in Java. Conditions resembled those attacks which took place from 2009-2011, which resulted in national rice production dropping by two million tons. This pest also spread the rice ragged stunt virus (RRSV) and rice grassy stunt virus (RGSV), which dried up the rice paddy fields.
Hermanu asked the Ministry to remind farmers to not spray insecticide on land attacked by the pest. "Research shows that an explosion in WBC occurs due to a pest resurgence process resulting from the use of insecticide," said Hermanu in his letter. As a result, the pest becomes immune and more damaging. The best way, according to Hermanu, is to sever the pest's breeding cycle by spacing the rice plantings. The greatest pest attacks occur on land which is planted all year round without alternating crops.
Six months later, the WBC attacks had not ceased. In late July 2017, Hermanu invited professors in agriculture, including Andi Trisyono from Gadjah Mada University (UGM) Yogyakarta, to meet Presidential Chief of Staff (KSP) Teten Masduki, who was replaced by Gen. (ret) Moeldoko last week. In that meeting, Hermanu and Andi again explained the matter of the brown plant-hopper attacks. A week later, Hermanu invited some farmers from the north coast of West Java to meet Teten. "We said to the KSP, ‘Be careful; in parts of Subang they couldn't harvest for three planting seasons due to pest attacks'," said Hermanu.
Read the full article in this week's edition of Tempo English Magazine
