RI Hopes No Longer Import Rice 2013

Sukabumi, West Java (Antara Bali) - Indonesia hopes it will no longer import rice from abroad such as Thailand and Vietnam from 2013.

State enterprises minister Dahlan Iskan said here on Thursday he hoped the target could be achieved through the Corporate-based Food Production Improvement program (GP3K) currently being carried out.

"This month we have not imported rice yet although the permit for it has been issued because stock is still sufficient and so we have decided not to import rice yet. It is expected Indonesia will no longer import rice from 2013," he said to newsmen here on Thursday.

Until in the middle of November this year the National Logistics Agency (Bulog) had been able to collect up to 3.5 million tons of rice from farmers of the target set at 3.8 million tons, he said.

The GP3K program which has been carried out for the past three years has proven able to boost rice production, he added.

He said in the past 20 years rice production in Indonesia has never met the target and only this year it is expected rice production collected by Bulog would meet or even surpass the target, he said.(*/dwa)