Good Rains To Help Indonesia Meet '07 Rice Output Target

A prolonged rainy season this year could help Indonesia produce enough rice to meet domestic demand, the country's agriculture minister told state news agency Antara Monday, despite earlier concerns that harsh El
Nino weather conditions had hurt the rice crop. 
 
Anton Apriyantono was quoted by Antara as saying the rainy season, which has continued into May, has been good for the rice crop, raising yield in the case of hybrid rice paddy to 10 tons a hectare and that of ordinary paddy to 7 tons/ha. 
 
That productivity level would yield enough rice to meet domestic consumption needs, he said Monday during a presentation at the first hybrid paddy harvest of the year in Yogyakarta province. At a regional rice conference in Bangkok, Ardiansyah Tarman, director general of Indonesia's domestic trade department, last week said the country may need to import 2.2 million metric tons or rice in 2007, up sharply from 600,000 tons last year, amid fears that lack of rains would reduce domestic output. 
 
Indonesia's rice consumption is projected at 33.6 million tons in 2007, according to data from the Ministry of Agriculture. The country's rice production in 2006 likely grew around 0.95% from around 54.05 million tons in
2005, due to an expansion of the country's paddy field acreage, according to data from the government's Central Statistics Bureau.