Maclean et al. - 2002 - Rice almanac source book for the most important e

malnutrition among children age 2–5 (as
measured by weight for age) is estimated at 34%.
Recent developments in the rice sector
The agricultural sector (including forestry and
fisheries) contributed approximately one-sixth of
GDP in 2000, with rice production responsible for
about one-fourth of this contribution. Rice
constitutes nearly 40% of total crop area
harvested and is the country’s staple food,
accounting for slightly more than half of caloric
intake and nearly half of protein intake. Rice
accounts for 20% of total expenditures for the
poorest quarter of the urban population. Even in
rural areas, many poor people are net consumers
of rice, since 45% of rural households on Java do
not own any land and another 20% own less than
0.25 ha. In the 1970s and early 1980s, Indonesia
was the world’s largest rice importer, often
importing one-fourth of total supplies on the
world market. From 1967 to 1986, however, total
rice production tripled, probably the most
extraordinary growth rate of staple food
production in human history, and self-sufficiency
was achieved by the mid-1980s. This rapid
production growth was achieved through the
adoption of modern high-yielding varieties and
fertilizers by farmers. Adoption of these varieties
was greatly facilitated by government programs
such as fertilizer subsidies and rice price
stabilization around the long-term trend of world
prices. Large investments in rural infrastructure
such as irrigation, roads, and schools also played
a critical role.
While per hectare yields more than doubled
from the mid-1960s to the mid-1980s, the
national average yield today is no greater than it
was ten years ago. This stagnation has been the
primary factor behind Indonesia’s return as the
largest importer on the world market in the
second half of the 1990s. Despite continued
urbanization, rice harvested area increased
steadily during the past decade, from about 10.5
million hectares in 1990 to nearly 12 million ha in
1999.
Rice policy has changed substantially in the
aftermath of the Southeast Asian financial crisis
that led to the resignation of President Suharto in
1998. A substantial increase in rice prices in late
1998 led to significant increases in poverty, and
this precipitated shifts in policy. While the
national logistics agency Bulog formerly had
monopoly control over all rice import and export
decisions, adoption of an International Monetary
Fund stabilization program led to the entry of
private-sector traders, who are currently allowed
to make import decisions subject only to a tariff.
Bulog’s successful defense of farm-gate floor
prices for nearly 30 years also ended because of
political and institutional constraints. Recently, all
subsidies on fertilizer were eliminated.
Rice environments
As of the mid-1990s, 54% of the rice area in
Indonesia was irrigated, with 35% rainfed
lowland, and 11% upland. Nearly all of the
irrigated area can be planted to two or more crops
of rice per year, and much of the rainfed area has
favorable growing conditions. Most irrigated
lowland rice areas are located in floodplains.
However, they can also be found on mountainsides
wherever there is water. Rainfed lands are
on both floodplains and undulating landscapes.
Uplands are mostly on undulating landscapes.
Current estimates are that about 80% of rice land
is planted to modern varieties. On Java, most rice
is transplanted. Labor use in rice production is
relatively high, typically exceeding 200 persondays
per hectare per crop.
Production constraints
In irrigated and favorable rainfed lowlands,
especially on Java, the relatively heavy
application of nitrogenous fertilizers makes
nutrient imbalance a serious problem. Indonesia
is also particularly vulnerable to the vagaries of
the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO)
phenomenon. In years when surface water
temperatures rise substantially in the western
Pacific Ocean, signaling an El Niño event, rice
production suffers a serious shortfall, with most
of the effects coming from a reduction in rice area
planted (as opposed to lower yields). The
reduction in area occurs even in systems that are
usually irrigated, as lower rainfall leads to a
reduced availability of irrigation water.
In upland rice areas, erosion is a serious
problem because on steep slopes the fields are
neither bunded nor terraced. This can cause
serious sedimentation problems in lowland
irrigation systems. Alley cropping as well as
terracing are being introduced in some areas, but
these cultural practices have not yet been widely
adopted by farmers. Upland soils are also more
weathered and leached, leading to problems of Al
toxicity and P nutrient deficiencies that combine
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