Indonesia plans to stop imports of corn by 2018 "at the latest", the agriculture minister said on Monday, amid government efforts to promote domestic production of the grain as part of a broader push for food self-sufficiency. Indonesia's corn imports had risen on demand for its use in animal feed, but government restrictions have cut imports sharply in recent years and bolstered imports of wheat as an alternative.
"Hopefully in the coming years there will be no more imports. Just pray," Agriculture Minister Amran Sulaiman said. Up to 7 million hectares of land would be needed for Indonesia to be self-sufficient in corn production, Sulaiman said, up from about 4.4 million hectares in use at present, according to ministry figures.
The government was also allocating more of its budget toward increasing production and mechanisation of farming, he said. "If everyone used farming machinery, farmers would save 60 trillion rupiah ($4.45 billion)," he said. Better irrigation could also improve output from land that is currently only being used for half the year, he added.
Indonesia's wheat imports spiked this year after the country capped corn imports at 1 million tonnes, about one-third of the amount the industry had planned to import, making it the world's second-largest wheat importer. Corn imports reached a record 3.5 million tonnes in 2013/2014, according to US Department of Agriculture data.