Minister Sees Off Organic Rice Export to Belgium

Tasikmalaya, W.Java (Antara Bali) - Agriculture Minister Andi Amran Sulaiman here on Thursday saw of the shipment 40 tons of organic rice produced by a farmer group of Simpatik in Mekar Wangi village, West Java to Belgium.

The shipment marked eight years of organic rice export from the farmer group to Belgium.

The exported rice was packed in airtight plastic that can last for months. One pack of rice weighed five kilograms with a label of Indonesia Rice on it.

In addition to Belgium, the other importer countries are Singapore, Italy, United States, and United Arab Emirates.

The rice price at the farm level reaches Rp 20 thousand per kilogram, but in Belgium it is Rp90,000 per kilogram.

At the farmers level, the price of the rice is Rp20,000 per kilogram, while in Belgium it reaches Rp90,000 per kilogram.

Amran said every year Indonesia is able to export 100 thousand tons of organic rice, so that it will be the future of Indonesian agricultural products.

"It is a smart agriculture. I have asked the Research Agency to support the organic rice farming. This is the future of rice exports. We just improve the regulation to make this sector competitive," he said.

The minister said that in addition to Java, Sumatra and Kalimantan also have potential in the rice organic agriculture. (WDY)