Jusuf Kalla Admits Imprecise Govt Data of Rice Production
23 October 2018 07:00 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Vice President Jusuf ‘JK’ Kalla said the government had no accurate data of rice production since the past 20 years. The data, he added, was not in line with the condition in the field.
“This issue on data has come up since 1997, and we do not review it thoroughly, so we continuously add the production number,” said JK in his office, Monday, Oct. 22.
Indonesia’s rice fields decreased by 1.5 percent per year due to, for example, population hike. JK said the imprecision data of rice production remained until now. He mentioned the Agriculture Ministry estimated the harvested area on October until December 2018 amounted to 2.85 hectares.
From the prediction, the ministry expected the production would reach 15.09 million tons of dry-milled rice grain (GKG), or equal to 8.7 million tons of rice. JK admitted being responsible for the incorrect data.
Read also: Indonesia has No Plan to Import Rice: VP Kalla
“I am one of the previous Vice Presidents who do not evaluate [this case],” he remarked.
The production data of rice has gone far from the reality over the years. The agricultural expert had already voiced that the government had set high data. However, according to JK, the government strived to recover it since three years ago by complementing the calculation using the area sample method (KSA), the collaboration between the Central Statistics Agency (BPS), the Ministry of Agrarian and Spatial Planning, the Geospatial Information Agency (BIG), and the National Institute of Aeronautics and Space (LAPAN).
Through the method, JK claimed, the government has more accurate data. As of September 2018, the harvested area amounted to 9.5 million hectares, and by calculating potential production until December 2018, the figure might rise to 10.9 hectares.
The production of dry-milled rice grain was recorded at 49.65 million tons until September this year, and that predicted to raise up to 56.54 million tons or equal to 32.42 million tons of rice up to the year’s end.
VINDRY FLORENTIN
