<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=452><TBODY><TR vAlign=top><TD>Indonesia News
</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top width=452 colSpan=2>Published November 16, 2009
</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top width=452 colSpan=2>Indonesia preparing self-sufficiency plan
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(JAKARTA) Indonesia aims to become self reliant in soybean and sugar in the next five years, following its success in ending imports of rice since last year, the country's recently appointed agriculture minister said on Friday.
Indonesia, which until 2007 was still a big importer of rice, posted a rice surplus for the first time in nearly two decades last year and is now on track to post bigger surplus on higher output.
'A blueprint on how to achieve self-sufficiency will be ready within the first 100 days of office,' said Minister Suswono, who was appointed last month and uses one name like many Indonesians.
Mr Suswono, a former deputy chairman of a parliamentary commission on agriculture affairs, is from the Islamist Prosperous Justice Party, which wants to attract more investment from the Middle East.
Another priority during his first 100 days in office was to establish a regulation on foreign investment in food crop estates, which would allow big investors like the Saudi Binladin Group to develop millions of hectares of rice fields.
The Binladin Group's US$4.3 billion planned investment in Papua, east Indonesia, to develop rice fields has stalled because of problems acquiring land from local people, an agriculture ministry official said.
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</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>South-east Asia's biggest sugar consumer has also scaled down imports of the sweetener for direct consumption since last year on bigger domestic output.
But it still relies on raw sugar imports of over 2 million tonnes for industry consumption, and soybean imports of over one million tonnes, or about half of domestic consumption.
The statistics agency's latest forecast showed Indonesia, the world's sixth-biggest soybean importer, may produce 966,469 tonnes of soybean in 2009, up from 775,710 tonnes in 2008.
To boost soybean output further, the agriculture ministry has proposed reimposing import duty of around 25 per cent on soybeans. The country removed import duty in 2007 due to a shortage in the domestic market. -- Reuters
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</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top width=452 colSpan=2>Published November 16, 2009
</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top width=452 colSpan=2>Indonesia preparing self-sufficiency plan
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<SCRIPT type=text/javascript src="http://s7.addthis.com/js/250/addthis_widget.js#pub=xa-4ae026ba0e05c08d"></SCRIPT><SCRIPT type=text/javascript> var addthis_config = { username: "xa-4ae026ba0e05c08d", services_compact: 'facebook, twitter, favorites, myspace, google, digg, live, delicious, stumbleupon, more', services_exclude: 'print', data_use_flash: false } </SCRIPT> <!-- AddThis Button END --></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>(JAKARTA) Indonesia aims to become self reliant in soybean and sugar in the next five years, following its success in ending imports of rice since last year, the country's recently appointed agriculture minister said on Friday.
Indonesia, which until 2007 was still a big importer of rice, posted a rice surplus for the first time in nearly two decades last year and is now on track to post bigger surplus on higher output.
'A blueprint on how to achieve self-sufficiency will be ready within the first 100 days of office,' said Minister Suswono, who was appointed last month and uses one name like many Indonesians.
Mr Suswono, a former deputy chairman of a parliamentary commission on agriculture affairs, is from the Islamist Prosperous Justice Party, which wants to attract more investment from the Middle East.
Another priority during his first 100 days in office was to establish a regulation on foreign investment in food crop estates, which would allow big investors like the Saudi Binladin Group to develop millions of hectares of rice fields.
The Binladin Group's US$4.3 billion planned investment in Papua, east Indonesia, to develop rice fields has stalled because of problems acquiring land from local people, an agriculture ministry official said.
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But it still relies on raw sugar imports of over 2 million tonnes for industry consumption, and soybean imports of over one million tonnes, or about half of domestic consumption.
The statistics agency's latest forecast showed Indonesia, the world's sixth-biggest soybean importer, may produce 966,469 tonnes of soybean in 2009, up from 775,710 tonnes in 2008.
To boost soybean output further, the agriculture ministry has proposed reimposing import duty of around 25 per cent on soybeans. The country removed import duty in 2007 due to a shortage in the domestic market. -- Reuters
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