Indonesia has targeted increased production of rice, corn and soy next year, helped by larger areas under cultivation and higher yields, a government official said on Friday.
Director general of food crops at the agriculture ministry Jafar Hafsah said the government estimated unhusked rice output at 54.25 million tonnes in 2005, up from 53.67 million this year.
Corn production was targeted at 12 million tonnes next year, up from 11.06 million in 2004, and soy at 0.77 million tonnes from 0.69 million.
"The production increase is due to a larger harvest area. For rice, it is expected to be at 11.9 million hectares, from 11.84 million," Hafsah said.
Indonesia has extended a rice import ban imposed in January until the end of this year to protect prices for local farmers.
It usually imports about two million tonnes of rice annually.
Hafsah said the harvest area for corn was expected to grow to 3.5 million hectares next year from 3.35 million in 2004. Soy was estimated at 0.6 million hectares, up from 0.54 million.
"There is also an increase in productivity," he said.
Productivity for rice was expected to rise to 4.56 tonnes per hectare in 2005, from 4.53 tonnes this year.
Indonesia, a country of some 220 million people that was self-sufficient in rice in the 1980s, turned to imports when millions of hectares or rice fields were converted to industrial parks and housing complexes.