Rice Consumption Expected to Drop 1.5 Percent : Minister

Selasa, 27 Juli 2010 10:56 WIB

Maros, S Sulawesi (ANTARA News) - Agriculture Minister Suswono said that the rice consumption in Indonesia was targeted to drop by 1.5 percent per annum.

The minister made the remarks on the sidelines of the opening of the First National Cereal Week in Maros subdistrict in South Sulawesi on Monday.

He said that annual rice consumption in Indonesia reached 139 kg per capita.

"This consumption rate is rather high compared with that in other Southeast Asian countries such as Thailand, Malaysia and Brunei Darussalam," he said.

The minister said that rice consumption in Thailand was low, namely only 70 kg per annum. "We set ourselves a target of rice consumption below 100 kg per capita per annum," the minister added.

So far, he said, the mindset of the Indonesian people has been trapped by and depends on rice so that they no longer see that other agricultural products also contained carbohydrate.

He said that carbohydrate can also be found in various other sources such as in maize, soybean, sorghum, sago and tubers.

"We should develop these carbohydrate sources which are part of agricultural food diversification beginning from today," the minister said. (A014/H-YH)