Kudus (Antara Bali) - Trade Minister Gita Wirjawan said the government is seeking to reduce dependence on imports for sugar to give more room for local producers in market competition.
"The spirit is to limit imports especially productivity of sugar farmers in the country has been improving," Gita said here on Saturday.
However, productivity needs to be improved by increasing the sugar content of farmers' canes, he said when visiting a sugar factory in this Central Java city.
Currently the sugar content of canes grown by Indonesian farmers averaged only between 6 to 7 percent.
Gita said Thailand, which learned sugar farming from Indonesia especially Java has succeeded in growing canes with high sugar content.(IGT)
