The Ministry of Agriculture is set to launch a new varieties of hybrid rice seeds as the result of a cooperation with a company in Central Java with a production capacity of 12.2 tons of dried unhulled paddy per hectare. Minister of Agriculture Anton Apriantono said in Jakarta on Tuesday that the two new varieties, namely Hipa 5 JT and Hipa 6 Sefa, will be further developed by the Central Java company.

He said that the production capacity of the new variety is almost equal that of the hybrid variety produced by China which has a production capacity of 15 tons of dried unhulled paddy per hectare. He added that 14 rice varieties had been developed in 2007, while only three varieties had been developed in 2006.

He said that the ministry of agriculture has launched 31 new hybrid varieties, and the development of new varieties will be conducted in association with private business or other countries. Meanwhile, the ministry has established cooperation with the IRRI in the development of new drought-resistant seed varieties which can also survive after two weeks of submersion, in anticipation of climate changes.