TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Ministry of Agriculture claimed that Indonesia does not need to import rice as the domestic stock of 3 million tons produced in December 2017 will sufficiently meet the need of 2.6 million tons, an official said.

"We do not need to import rice, as you can see from December to January, we had big harvest in many regions, including Gunung Kidul District," said Head of Agriculture Human Resources Development Momon Kusmono during a harvest festival in Gunung Kidul District, Yogyakarta Special Region on Tuesday.

The 3 million tons of national rice stock was produced from 6 million tons dried paddy grain that harvested from 1.1 million hectare of land.

Kusmono added that Indonesia has a rice surplus of 0.4 million tons that can be used as reserve while the government is working to increase the land area for paddy fields during dry seasons between July and September this year.

The program is a part of Minister of Agriculture Amran Sulaiman`s special efforts program to rehabilitate tertiary irrigation in 3.4 million hectare of land, that also includes construction of 2,278 long storage and expansion of 1.08 million hectare land.

The Ministry of Agriculture also develops 367 thousand hectare of swamps for paddy fields and automation by providing hundred thousands of tractor, water pump, rice transplanter, and combine harvester.

To help the farmers meet the production target, the government had given seeds subsidy for 12.1 million hectare, 27.64 million tons of subsidized fertilizer, and agriculture insurance for 1.2 million hectare of land.

Gunung Kidul District is one of main rice producers in Indonesia with 4.3 tons production of dried paddy grains from 21,073 hectare of land, or averagely 5.1 kilograms per 25 hectare.

ANTARA