JAKARTA – The agriculture ministry has asked palm oil producers to help strengthen the national food resilience by planting rice under an intercropping system in oil palm plantation areas subjected for replanting program.
“We’re summoned yesterday to meet Agriculture Minister. The Minister asked GAPKI to help the government in realizing food resilience by planting rice with intercropping system in smallholders’ palm plantation areas subjected to replanting program,” the Indonesian Palm Oil Association (GAPKI) Chairman Eddy Martono said during a celebration ceremony of the 43rd anniversary of GAPKI at Ayana Midplaza Hotel, Central Jakarta, on Tuesday (27/02/2024).
The intercropping system is an agricultural method of cultivating two kinds of crops simultaneously on the same land areas. Generally, the kind of rice to be planted under the program is locally known as “Gogo”, a superior local variety of rice (Oryza Sativa L.). It can be planted in dry fields, instead of irrigated rice fields.
Eddy said that for the initial stage, the rice intercropping scheme will be implemented by GAPKI in South Kalimantan and later expanded to other provinces. Currently, GAPKI groups 739 oil palm plantation companies with a total acreage of 3.7 million hectares in 15 provincial branches.
“Initially, we’ll implement it in South Kalimantan province. We’ll also ask our member growers who join the replanting program to apply the intercropping system,” he said.
The rice intercropping scheme came after local media reported the high increase of rice prices and supply shortage in a number of domestic markets.
Such condition has forced the government to launch market operations by flooding the domestic market with new rice supply up to 5,000 tons.
Meanwhile, Deputy Minister of Agriculture Harvick Hasnul Qolbi said the agriculture ministry has planned to apply the rice intercropping scheme in 500,000 hectares of oil palm plantations. “Besides increasing our national food resilience, it will also increase our foreign exchange,” the deputy minister said during the national coordination meeting on accelerating replanting program for smallholders’ oil plantations in Jakarta on Tuesday (05/03/2024).
According to Harvick, the intercropping system is in line with the replanting program of smallholders’ plantation areas, which has been so far realized in 120,000 hectares across the archipelagic country. (*)
Source: sawitku.id
